Painting
Memory Time Lapse, Ground Zero NYC
- Description
- Oil on linen painting titled Memory Time Lapse, Ground Zero NYC, by Joellyn T. Duesberry. The painting depicts Ground Zero with its mangled steel debris, the partial facade of one of the towers still standing, and heavy construction vehicles maneuvering in the rubble. In the background, smoke and dust color the skyline against a bright blue sky. In the foreground a group of firefighters, dressed in bunker gear, trudge into the pit.
- Historical Notes
- Memory Time Lapse, Ground Zero NYC is a representation of the scenes Joellyn Duesberry witnessed when she visited Ground Zero shortly after 9/11. It forms one half of a diptych painting displayed in juxtaposition with Duesberry's other work titled Elephant Graveyard, Kenya.
Curator's Comment
Acclaimed as a plein air painter and adventurous colorist, Joellyn Duesberry was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. After studying painting and art history at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, she pursued a graduate degree at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York City.
In the late 1990s, Duesberry received a six-month grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to be a part of the World Views program as an artist in residence. Working out of a studio space in the World Trade Center, Duesberry produced a series of cityscapes from the vantage points of the North Tower’s 91st floor.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Duesberry grieved the loss of innocent lives, some of them friends, as well as the physical buildings, whose “maze of cubes,” extraordinary vistas, and elongated shadows she had so recently painted. On several occasions, she ventured to the World Trade Center site to see its ravaged condition.
Soon after, she traveled to Kenya where she witnessed a herd of elephants responding to the death of a member of the herd. This scene was so compelling it recalled to mind the devastation she had recently witnessed at Ground Zero. An idea took root in the form of corresponding canvases—Memory Time Lapse and Elephant Graveyard—which she thereafter painted at a scale commensurate with the horror and grief she was feeling.
In the late 1990s, Duesberry received a six-month grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to be a part of the World Views program as an artist in residence. Working out of a studio space in the World Trade Center, Duesberry produced a series of cityscapes from the vantage points of the North Tower’s 91st floor.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Duesberry grieved the loss of innocent lives, some of them friends, as well as the physical buildings, whose “maze of cubes,” extraordinary vistas, and elongated shadows she had so recently painted. On several occasions, she ventured to the World Trade Center site to see its ravaged condition.
Soon after, she traveled to Kenya where she witnessed a herd of elephants responding to the death of a member of the herd. This scene was so compelling it recalled to mind the devastation she had recently witnessed at Ground Zero. An idea took root in the form of corresponding canvases—Memory Time Lapse and Elephant Graveyard—which she thereafter painted at a scale commensurate with the horror and grief she was feeling.
- Accession Number: C.2018.26.2
- Dimensions: 61 in X 73.25 in X 2 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 154.94 cm X 186.055 cm X 5.08 cm
- Source: The Joellyn T. Duesberry Collection
- Credit Line: Gift of Joellyn T. Duesberry Collection
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