The day after 9/11, I took the train into the city with my sketchbook to witness and document what had happened.
I saw an older man riding a Schwinn three-speed bicycle with a huge American flag—someone who might have seemed crazy on any other day, but amid the solemn unity of that day, people cheered him on.
New York artist Tom Christopher, who spent over four decades documenting the city’s streets, architecture, and changing public life, told Newsweek reporter Soo Kim:
“Over the past 25 years, residential conversions, new public spaces, and rebuilding around the World Trade Center have turned it into a genuine neighborhood—one where people live, raise families, dine, and create, not merely work.”
New York urban painter and muralist Tom Christopher told The Post that the most effective memorials don’t let the sheer scale of 9/11 overwhelm the people behind the numbers.
“A meaningful memorial has to make something enormous feel human again,” Christopher said.
“Twenty-five years later, the numbers and images are part of history, but behind every number was a person who had a family, a routine, a favorite restaurant, a train they took to work.”
