Tiles for America

In the West Village, at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street, there is a very standard parking lot, surrounded by a very non-standard fence. The fence is covered with over 6,000 tiles that memorialize the victims of the September 11th attacks. Soon after the attacks, Lorrie Veasey, owner of a nearby ceramics shop, covered the fence with 5,000 handmade ceramic angels and flags. Most of these soon went missing - a theft not as callous as it may seem, because the fence is located across the street from a hospital that took in many of the injured, and Veasey's ceramics were likely taken by New Yorkers in mourning. After the story of the fence became public, ceramic studios begain sending Veasey handpainted tiles to place on the fence. The tiles cover a range of sentiments, from sorrow, desperation, solidarity and patriotism.

The memorial is known as Tiles for America. Many spontaneous memorials sprung up in the aftermath of 9/11, but most lasted only a short while. Apparently, Tiles for America is one of only two spontaneous memorials that remain (I'm not sure what the other one is - I did some quick Internet research but didn't turn up anything conclusive). It seems likely to be a permanent installation: Veasey is soliciting more tiles because a portion of the fence will soon be transferred to Ground Zero as a temporary memorial. While Tiles for America is an undeniably moving tribute to the victims of 9/11, I'm not sure that its classification as a spontaneous memorial is still apt. Such memorials should be spontaneous in the true sense of the word - unregulated, unorganized, unofficial. Veasey seems to carefully regulate the process of putting tiles on the fence (most seem to be donated through ceramic studios), and is searching for additional sites in order to expand the memorial. Additionally, she is hoping to parlay the memorial into a fundraising organization. I do not mean to criticize these plans, for they are worthy in their own right. However, I think the memorial loses some effect when it is managed in this way. Part of its poignancy derives from its potential participatory aspect - the ability of any person to contribute a tile to the fence, at any time, without having to go through certain channels to do so. This type of participation does not seem to be possible at this site. Despite this, it is impressive that the memorial has remained in place for this long, and perusing the tiles is an extremely sobering experience - much more emotive than a visit to the World Trade Centre site, in my opinion.