Light Box - Objects Part 3

The Falling Man: Reflection

I think the denial that a family member may have jumped keeps the family sane, kind of like keeping them from over-thinking about the jumpers death. It's the possibility that the family member may have jumped, is too overwhelming and too difficult for the family to deal with. The death of a loved one obviously comes hand in hand with dispair, but even the thought of the death by jumping off the twin towers is too traumatic to comprehend, or even accept. Letting go is difficult, however, it can also be liberating; the acceptance of a family member jumping frees the family of constantly suffering and being upset over the death. There's nothing they could've done, and there's nothing they can do to bring the jumper back, so the best thing to do is to stay strong and accept them as gone.

The identity of the jumper was revealed, but did we really need to know who he was? Closure is significant, but the importance is not. Sure, it's interesting to discover the identities of the people who decided to jump, but it's not necessary or important to know; the fact that there was a jumper is all that's important.

Showing the photo of the falling man represents the lengths taken by the people in the twin towers. I think it's important not just for journalists who published the photo, but for all americans to realize and accept what had happened. It's not exploitation, it's the truth. I feel that holding back the picture, or viewing the photo in a negative light, is somewhat being dishonest. The photo should obviously be viewed with respect, knowing that the people in the photos are seconds away from their deaths, but that's the whole point, isn't it? It's not exploiting the photo in terms of entertainment or interest - it's showing the non-sugar-coated truth, in hopes that the viewers have the integrity to understand it's purpose.

Gwendolyn Briley says, "I hope we're not trying to figure out who he is, but rather who we are through watching that." I think she means that we shouldn't focus on the identity of the jumper, but what we see when we view the photos. As Gwendolyn being the sister of the man identified in the jumping photo, i think it's very true; we need to focus on ourselves and not just what we're looking at, but how we're looking at the photo.

The analogy made (the tomb of the unknown soldier) i feel is true, even though it's a disturbing thought. The "soldiers" are the ones who jumped out of the building, and never identifying every single one of those who jumped, or what happened to the others who were still in the collapsing building. What was left of the buildings after the collapse, was their tomb.

"We can't hope to understand these incredible times, unless we bear witness to these images."
To me, this means that no one will fully understand exactly what the victims in the tower went through ..but photography is what opens our eyes and minds to the situation; without the photos of the jumpers, we wouldn't have understood the tremendous leap of courage the victims chose. We would never understand the incredible decision to jump off 92+ floors above ground, rather than burning and suffocating alive in the smoke. We would've never understood the lengths, or courage, or even the truth if we didn't view these photos.

Light Box - Food Part 2

Light Box - Food Part 1

Isolation