A man dances to music played in the distance. The accompanying text is based on my 9/12/01 confrontation on a New York City sidewalk, in Soho, one day after I arrived in Manhattan on 9/11 at 8:45 a.m. Memories of my childhood, the music, the dancing man, events on my arrival, and the confrontation became an artwork and metaphor for my survival.
These are three self-referential images involved with my past, present and future. They peer beyond physicality, explore unconsciousness and are “in the momentâ€. A man dances to music we both heard off in the distance. My text is about confronting demons, his and mine. The story grew out of my 9/12/01 confrontation on a New York City sidewalk, in Soho, with someone shouting harsh, angry words, quoted on the first panel, the truth of which I found so troubling. The day before, 9/11, my overnight flight from L.A. got me into Penn Station and on the street about 8:45 a.m., only a minute or so before the World Trade Center North tower was struck and utter chaos broke out. While making the artwork, memories flooded me – of my childhood, the music, the dancing man, events on my arrival, and the confrontation. The work galvanized into a metaphor for how to survive my journey into an unknown world. I scrawled the words I CHOOSE on the last panel -- evidencing hope and possibility.