As I’m writing this essay, I am sitting in my art residency studio, located in the World Trade Center, with the 9/11 Memorial visible from my window. I can’t help but think about Jack Whitten’s painting, 9.11.01 (2006), which he spent five years working on after witnessing the Twin Towers falling down from his Tribeca studio. After experiencing that devastation, Whitten could only bring himself to work on that one artwork during that period, and it became the largest and most ambitious work of his career.
Witnessing that painting in person at Jack Whitten: The Messenger, the Museum of Modern Art’s retrospective on Whitten’s work, was transformative for me. It’s made from pigs blood, ash, hair, acrylic, and salvaged items from Ground Zero. But most importantly, it’s born from a sensitive response to a traumatizing moment in our collective history. The amount of care, attention to detail, precision, and commitment required to make that work is a testament to Whitten’s mastery. This painting honors not a single figure, but the three thousand lives lost in a single tragedy. And it was necessary.
