|  Unique
image of World Trade Center Memorial Lights chosen as 9/11
anniversary poster.
Update:
Thank you to all that helped make this project
a success. We distributed over 250,000 free posters.
Although we no longer have the free poster we still
are producing our regular prints of this piece
and others. See our New York Print collection for
details here.
Note: We
have had reports of this poster selling for high amounts
on auction sites. This is against our wishes. If you
find this poster being sold anywhere, we would like
to hear about it.
Dana
Point, CA– Sept. 3, 2002 – From firehouses around
Ground Zero to the Maury Povich TV Show, the Tower of Lights
"Remembrance" poster printed by PSG (Printing Services
of Greensboro) and over 25 other printing firms is reaching
out with a message of hope and rebirth on the anniversary
of this nation’s worst terrorist attack.
Since its release on August 13 by PSG, word about the free
poster, has traveled all around the country. Both PSG and
Cliff Wassmann, the California professional photographer who
captured the Tower of Lights on film, are finding that this
particular image is impacting the hearts of so many people.
A travel photographer whose specialty is photographing ancient
ruins and sacred sites around the world, Wassmann felt no
desire to photograph the World Trade Center site after the
attack and add to the nations collection of destructive images,
but upon seeing the tribute in light realized it was time
to return to New York and photograph America’s new sacred
space.
"Wassmann shot this image on the last night of the illumination,"
explained Teresa Yeager, PSG’s marketing manager, "and
as the lights reached toward the sky in the early morning
mist, somehow a heart-like figure was created against the
clouds overhead. The picture is absolutely beautiful, but
perhaps it is the heart that is drawing so many people across
America to it." When Yeager initially began focusing
on an image for the 9/11 anniversary, she wanted to find one
that "invoked Americans to pause and remember those who
lost their lives at the hands of terrorists." And being
a Navy veteran, Yeager says she was also concerned about the
dwindling signs of patriotism and hoped that whatever image
she chose, it would impress upon Americans the importance
of remembering those men and women still fighting overseas
for our freedom. continued
But neither she nor Wassmann ever anticipated just how much
of an impact this one particular shot would seemingly have
on the entire country. "From the moment the poster was
released, the response was phenomenal," said Yeager.
"We planned to print only 80,000 of the posters at PSG
and with all the requests we are receiving from around the
country, we hoped that other printers across the nation will
unite with us and help get this poster into the hands of everyone
who so desires to have it." Once word got out that the
image was available to printers that wanted to participate,
over 25 joined with PSG bringing the total print run to over
250,000.
Aside from the poster, the image was used in a variety of
other ways. According to Wassmann, corporations had special
presentations and services on that day and requested to use
that image as well as others he shot of the twin lights. It
was used in special web presentations, as backdrops for 9/11
religious services, on newsletters, and now on the official
New York State handbook of State services. "Even the
New York City Mayor’s office called to ask permission
to post the image on a new section of Mayor Bloomberg’s
web site."
Although the poster is free, people are encouraged to donate
to September’s Mission, which is a non-profit organization
founded by Monica Iken, who lost her husband in the tragedy.
His body was never found and it’s the goal of September’s
Mission to play a key role in the construction of a permanent
memorial on the site that takes into consideration the wishes
of the victims’ families. For more information on this
organization, please visit www.septembersmission.org
for
more info: e.mail:cliff@artseek.com
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