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American Morning
Interview with Joel Meyerowitz, Ground Zero Photographer
Aired May 13, 2002 - 08:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Since September 11, photographer Joel Meyerowitz has seen it all, up close and personal. He's the only photographer who has had unlimited access to ground zero ever since September the 11th. He has taken more than 8,000 still pictures, and this week's "New Yorker" magazine features a dozen of his never before seen snapshots of that site. His pictures are also a part of an exhibit that the State Department is taking overseas, called "After September 11: Images From Ground Zero."
Photographer Joel Meyerowitz, a witness to history, is here with us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
Nice to see you. Welcome.
JOEL MEYEROWITZ, GROUND ZERO PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning, Jack.
CAFFERTY: How did you become the franchisee for ground zero, the only man or woman who had around the clock, seven day a week access to go down and take pictures? There were -- the security was pretty touchy about that.
MEYEROWITZ: Very. I invented it for myself, basically. After the disaster, the city called it a crime scene, and said photography was off-limits, and I understood that to mean no history, no photographic record, no history. So I thought, I'm going to offer my services to the Museum of the City of New York, and provide them with an archive. This is a not for profit venture on my part.
CAFFERTY: How do you look at these pictures?
MEYEROWITZ: Well, it's -- it's no different than being at the site. There's an awful lot of history in making these pictures, and my memory of every day down there, and the way the workers have proceeded, and the kind of compassion and spirituality that's come out of this site. It's a profound transformation.
CAFFERTY: Are you a changed man for this experience? I would think you have to be. I just wonder in what way.
MEYEROWITZ: Oh, I feel changed. I mean, first of all, I did something that was useful, rather than being an art photographer and making things that are about beauty, I'm working for history, for the people of New York. CAFFERTY: This particular shot is interesting for a couple reasons. It was taken -- if we can go back to it -- it was taken within a couple of -- a few days after the actual attacks, and those are iron workers getting about the business of moving some of the heavy cranes and equipment into position, and that fellow on his left with his head down has a cigarette in his mouth, and these -- you know, the New York iron workers are probably some of the toughest guys in the entire world. I mean, they walk these beams high above the streets of Manhattan, putting these buildings up. And I just was looking at that picture in the office this morning, and I am thinking, you know, guy's got a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, he is moving that cable. There's a lot there.
MEYEROWITZ: And I will tell you, to smoke in that environment which was smoke, and stench...
CAFFERTY: Yes, right.
MEYEROWITZ: ... and fumes, it was like a double whammy.
CAFFERTY: Let me ask you about these pictures going overseas under the aegis of the State Department. They're going to tour foreign countries, including some places that are politically unfriendly to the United States, and in fact sympathetic to the Islamic world that wreaked this havoc upon us.
What kind of reaction do you expect, both in friendly and unfriendly countries when this thing goes overseas? You have been overseas with some of these already.
MEYEROWITZ: I have travelled with it a bit already. Actually, in our friendly allies, it has been incredibly tender hearted, and an outpouring of support. But it has also been in Riyadh, and in Kabul, and Islamabad, and in a few of those places, they have actually not been able to show the show because there has been political unrest, but I've heard reports that people were moved by the fact that it actually happened, that we suffered, that we died, and there was a kind of compassion.
CAFFERTY: For the photography buffs that watch this program, and there are probably more than a few, what kind of camera did you use?
MEYEROWITZ: I'm using an old-fashioned wooden camera, because I wanted to make an image that was so visceral, that when you stood in front of these pictures, some of which are 10 or 12 feet across, you would have the feeling, surrogate feeling anyway, of being there, because this was a sight that was off limits to most New Yorkers.
CAFFERTY: There is a great dialogue going on -- by the way, this a very emotional picture. You tell me about this. I know what it is, but tell the viewers what it is.
MEYEROWITZ: This is just a play school on the mezzanine level of the World Trade Center. And I went up there a couple of months afterwards, and it was exactly as it was on the day it was abandoned, and to look down and see the kids' toys... CAFFERTY: All covered in ashes.
MEYEROWITZ: All covered in ash, and it looked almost like a scene seen from the top of a building looking down to the street. Very touching.
CAFFERTY: 10 seconds left. What do you think ought to be done with the site?
MEYEROWITZ: Well, they are going to build there, but I think as a memorial there should be 3,000 trees, one for every person who died. From the countries that they died -- you know, they should send trees to the number of people who were there, and make it a kind of flowing memorial throughout the site, so people could visit a tree with a name on it, and say, oh, there is my father. A living, breathing memorial.
CAFFERTY: Well, thank you for what you have done for all of us, in creating a living history of what has gone on since that horrible day on September 11. It is nice to have you on the program.
MEYEROWITZ: Thanks for having me.
CAFFERTY: Joel Meyerowitz, photographer, his pictures can be seen in the new issue of New Yorker, this one right here.
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