Tara Polansky - Artist
They were older than me
2012
Brick
I was underneath the towers, changing trains in the station that used to be there. When the second plane hit, I was a few blocks away. I was 22 years old. In the ten years that have passed, I have watched the grief surrounding this event be used for political and commercial gain and contemplated the “true loss” that occurred.

Each brick in this exhibition represents one woman who died on September 11, 2001 and was, at the time, older than me, and who I am now older than. They are grouped together based on their age at the time of death. The text is comprised of one sentence from each woman’s obituary and, again, is grouped by age.

Note: All the text and images in this exhibition are sourced directly from The New York Times “Portraits of Grief” which ran in the newspaper from September 2001 to February 2002. They were a kind of obituary, a public portrait of the life and character of the deceased.


Materials: 114 Hand-formed Bricks and Newsprint with laser printed text
Each brick is approximately 3.5 inches across by 4.5 inches high.
Each Newsprint column is 3 feet across by 8 feet high.

Bricks formed at a residency at The Belden Brick Co. in Sugar Creek, OH, organized by Mary Jo Bole.
Prints made with help from Bob Hite.
Installation photographs by Chas Ray Krider.
Big thanks to all the people who helped with this project!