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Henry Leutwyler / Contour by Getty Images
A heavily dented and damaged mass hardly recognizable as the helmet it once was. Thinking about how powerful the destructive force must have been still makes her lose her breath. "George was such a tall, strong man'', says Nancy Nee. And yet looking at the black relic brings her a certain measure of peace. Her brother George Cain was a firefighter to the core and the helmet was an integral part of his life. On Sept. 11, George helped evacuate hundreds of guests from the Marriott Hotel, close to the World Trade Center. When the towers collapsed, he did not stand a chance. The hotel was destroyed, but most of the guests survived. To this day, her children miss their uncle very much, says Nancy. She still hasn't shown her two youngest the helmet.
This spring and summer, photographer Henry Leutwyler photographed objects that were pulled from the rubble of the Twin Towers and the surviving relatives of the people who owned them. “In some instances, that specific object is the only thing they got back,” Leutwyler says, “no bone, no body, nothing. It’s the only thing they have left.”
Although Leutwyler is primarily a celebrity portrait photographer he says that still life photos are more telling than portraits because “they don’t lie.”
Leutwyler isn’t new to photographing object like these -- “artifacts,” as he often calls them. He’s photographed the gun that killed John Lennon, Michael Jackson’s socks and Elvis Presley’s television with a bullet hole through it. “Objects are a historical record,” he says, The object can’t lie. It’s evidence. It’s basically police photography.”
Henry Leutwyler / Contour by Getty Images
Three frequent flyer cards and a debit card are all that remained of their son. Recovery workers at Ground Zero found neither his body nor any parts of it. Thus, the parents placed the four cards along with a photo of their son in a niche in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles. The plastic is the only remembrance of the last day of Waleed Iskandar's life. The youngest of three children, he was born in Lebanon and raised in Kuwait. He graduated from Stanford and Harvard. In his job as a consultant and in his leisure time with his girlfriend, Nicolette, he flew more than 400,000 miles a year. He was sitting in the window seat in row 34 when the plane crashed into the North tower. His parents, Joseph and Samia Iskandar, hope that maybe
Some of the objects he has photographed were in museums; others were in people’s homes. “A family in Los Angeles, the only thing they got back are four credit cards, which they buried and dug up for us to photograph them,” Leutwyler says.
One of his photographs shows a watch that was on the hand of a victim of the attack. Leutwyler notes that the watch ran for some time after he died. “…because the watch says 2:25. The towers came down at 9:45 and 10:15 more or less. So maybe the watch survived four and a half more hours, you know, survived its owner. Or maybe the watch kept on working for a few days.”
Henry Leutwyler / Contour by Getty Images
He was the man with the red bandanna, an accessory he had adopted from his grandfather. He wore the bandanna on this morning at the Trade Center, high above the southern tip of Manhattan. Welles Crowther survived the initial impact of the plane. Shortly thereafter, he called his father. It was the last that was heard from him. Months later, his mother, Alison, read an article in which witnesses recounted how they were rescued from a smoky stairwell by a man whose nose and mouth were covered by a red bandanna. Six months after the attack, rescue workers found Welles' body under a shattered staircase. The time on his wristwatch, a Citizen Chronograph WR 200, had stopped at 2:25. The red bandanna was not recovered.
“We have been bombarded by September 11th imagery,” Leutwyler says, “The towers, the smoke, this, that, the whole nine yards. Somehow I would say it’s enough, because the same images are coming around over and over again: The planes hitting, the jumpers, the dust, the priest, the firefighters, the paper flying. But somehow I think that the real stories, and the untold stories, are the ones we did, with the objects.”
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I think this is one of the best things PhotoBlog's ever published. There'll be a ton of 9/11 memorializing this weekend but I don't know if it'll be better executed than this. Leutwyler did great work.
Hey thanks a lot Tyler--really appreciate it. We're really proud to have published it.
Relics are just meant for memories that are never forgetable. Its just a wonderful attempt and heart touching effort.
Good work Leutwyler.
This is not about these photos (which are awesome, by the way), but in hopes someone can direct me where I can get an answer to this question. Heard a story of a young girl who was walking near the twin towers and had both legs either amputated or seriously mangled from falling debris from plane parts on 9/11. She was in the hospital for days while her fiancee was searching for her. She was finally able (while on a ventilator) to tell the nurses her name: Debbie. She was reunited with her fiancee, and the doctors were telling her she would dance at her wedding. I have wondered for 10 years how that young woman's life is today. Is there anyone I can contact about news stories from 10 years ago so that I might follow up? Thanks bunches !!!! Susan McGlone, Huntington, WV
I was living at home in The Bahamas when this tragedy occurred. I remember, along with everyone else, being completely shocked and heart broken as I watched,through teary eyes, all the news reports on television. I live in Canada now and still shudder when I think of that day. These pictures are true monuments to those who lost their lives...and more so to their "strong" loved ones left behind. I looked again, through teary eyes...this time with sadness and a bit of peace. What a beautiful Tribute!
These images and stories are one of the most profound, respectful memorials to those lost and left behind that I have seen. I hope this encourages Leutwyler to continue this project with and publish a book of his work. Just amazing!!
These photos show a side of this tragedy that does not cross the mind of someone who did not lose a loved one on that day. Very touching. How did they research these found objects and determine exactly who they belonged to? Is there a story on the research?
I saw the same work in Argentina about another bomb attack in 1994. It was published in argentina in 2004.
strange coïncidence.
www.santiagoporter.com
the absense is the name of the work
It is plagiary.
The exact same work was produced almost ten years ago, about the bomb attack that destroyed the Jewish Community Center Building in Buenos Aires by argentinean photographer Santiago Porter.
For this project, Mr. Porter was awarded a Guggenheim Grant in 2002.
www.santiagoporter.com
With all the respect to the victims and families of the victims of the 9.11 attack, this work is a plagiary.
It was done before by the argentine photographer Santiago Porter after the bomb attack of the AMIA, a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. The attack was in 1994 and the photo essay is from 2001. The work is called La Ausencia (The Absence).
I would like to know what photoblog thinks about this issue.
Thank you.
With all the respect to the victims and families of the victims of the 9.11 attack, this work is a plagiary.
It was done before by the argentine photographer Santiago Porter after the bomb attack of the AMIA, a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. The attack was in 1994 and the photo essay is from 2001. The work is called La Ausencia (The Absence).
I would like to know what photoblog thinks about this issue.
Thank you.
With all the respect to the victims and families of the victims of the 9.11 attack, this work is a plagiary.
It was done before by the argentine photographer Santiago Porter after the bomb attack of the AMIA, a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. The attack was in 1994 and the photo essay is from 2001. The work is called La Ausencia (The Absence).
I would like to know what photoblog thinks about this issue.
Thank you.
I have also seen this work done before.
It is a carbon copy of what Santiago Porter did in Argentina after the Jewish Institution AMIA was bombed.
Shame on you Mr Leutwyler.
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for taking the time to look at my photographs. I am not familiar with Mr. Porter or his work, but I am confident that neither he nor I were the first or will be the last to create images of the grieving juxtaposed with possessions left behind by their loved ones. It is nice to see that Mr. Porter has such ardent and vocal fans, and I wish him nothing but great success.
Kind regards,
Henry Leutwyler
Mr Leutwyler,
Maybe you're right, neither Mr Porter or you are the first or will be the last. but, we are talking about two identical works for a same subjet. Creativity is a gift. And as I see, yours is missing.
I'm not an ardent fan, but someone who was full of emotion 10 years ago about a photographic work and was extremely surprised when I opened Le monde friday night and saw that someone had done exactly the same photographes to remember 9/11 missing persons.
Mr Leutwyler,
Maybe you're right, neither Mr Porter or you are the first or will be the last. but, we are talking about two identical works for a same subjet. Creativity is a gift. And as I see, yours is missing.
I'm not an ardent fan, but someone who was full of emotion 10 years ago about a photographic work and was extremely surprised when I opened Le monde friday night and saw that someone had done exactly the same photographes to remember 9/11 missing persons.
Mr Leutwyler,
Maybe you're right, neither Mr Porter or you are the first or will be the last. but, we are talking about two identical works for a same subjet. Creativity is a gift. And as I see, yours is missing.
I'm not an ardent fan, but someone who was full of emotion 10 years ago about a photographic work and was extremely surprised when I opened Le monde friday night and saw that someone had done exactly the same photographes to remember 9/11 missing persons.
Too bad Human Lives are not as durable as everyday, mundane objects...
I think some of you here have missed the point of the photos. All you can talk about is that someone did this before and how the photographer stole the idea. I guess with that train of thought then we need to just stop doing everything that has ever been done before. Please grow up and stop acting like a 5 year old kid and remember that these people are not here, and anything that helps to remember them or helps their family is all that matters.