Street Art and 9/11

STREET ART

New York is known for its tremendous amounts of street art on numerous buildings and subway stations. After September 11, 2001 there has been a great amount of artwork done in remembrance of the attacks not only in New York, but also around the world. In chapter 3 of 9/11 Culture, Melnick speaks about the numerous amounts of photography that was taken during the terrorist attacks and just like these photographs, street art also became a “city-wide work of art” (Melnick 67).

This picture was shot in New York City by leojam. The red and white paint signifies the red and white stripes on the American flag. The writing on the red paint says “I’m scared from the 9-11-01. I will never forget” and ends it off with a quick drawing of the Twin Towers. Just like the photographs that Melnick spoke on, each street art has its own story (70). Judging from the handwriting and the way this is written, it looks like it was written by a child. It shows how significant this attack was towards everybody, no matter what age.

Another picture of street art taken by leojam in New York City (right). This wall of street art has many tributes to 9/11. On the top left it asks “do you love USA” and towards the bottom left it says “God Bless Da USA”. This shows the patriotism that rose within the people after the tragedy. The drawing of the World Trade Center with the word “unbreakable” at the bottom illustrates that these two buildings still remain even without their physical presence.





Like I stated earlier, post-9/11 street art was not only found in New York City but all over the world. In Weimar, Germany a picture was taken of a stencil of the Statue of Liberty (left). However, instead of the tablet reading July IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776), it reads September XI MMI. This signifies that 9/11 was just as important as the date of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

In 9/11 Culture, Melnick spoke on the limits of discourse. He mentioned that there are certain images that are sanctified/legitimized images. Images that are show “militaristic nationalism” or in other words, patriotic and heroic images were sanctified images. There were also images that showed people who died so that it would justify the war. These images were acceptable post-9/11 because it’s what people wanted to see whereas the torture photographs in Abu Ghraib were not acceptable (77).

This mural (top) is located in New York City and was made by Pink, Smith, and Emi. As you can see, the patriotism is definatly portrayed through the colors red, white, and blue. The United States flag is painted right in the center of the mural and with the firemen, who were looked upon as the 9/11 heroes, holding up the flag. The bald eagle to the left of the painting, which represents the freedom we have as Americans, also shows the patriotism that was flowing throughout the people of America after the 9/11 attacks.

In 2001, the Wallnuts Crew painted this mural in Queens, New York titled “Remember 9-11-01” (top). This mural focuses on the heroes of 9/11 while still having its patriotic features. The image of New York City with the World Trade Center still present is painted in front of an oversized United States flag. To the right is next the scene of the burning Twin Towers next to a crying bald eagle, which represents this tragic day. There are four types of badges which represent the 9/11 heroes: police, firemen, and nurses. Once again, the images of heroes, like this one, were sanctified images.


In the introduction to Melnick’s book, he talks about post-9/11 games with Osama being the main character. “Osamagatchi” and “Cokehead 2” were games where the goal was to basically get revenge for what he did to our country (12). Connecting this to street art, there were also images that showed the hatred that we, Americans, have towards Osama. In Middletown, New York, Pmer, Prop, and Fule created a mural titled “We Will Survive & American Graffiti” (bottom). There is a portrait of Osama with devil horns and a missile heading right towards him. In Argentina, Jazz and Teko also had a portrait of Osama in their mural with the words “Wanted Dead or Alive … Osama bin Laden … For Mass Murder in New York” around his picture (top). The 9/11 attacks not only raised anger towards Osama in the United States, but also other countries in the world. One drawing that poked fun at Osama was “Don’t Hate Your Neighbor”(right). In the center of the picture is a construction worker choking Osama. On the left is a New York fireman smiling at the fact that Osama is being choked and on the right is a policeman who is grinning for the same reason. The well known quote “Save the drama for your momma” was remade into “Save the drama for Osama”. Since the heroes couldn’t do as much as they wanted to, this drawing shows how they feel towards the terrorist who made this all happen.

In Sarasota, Florida, there is a mural created by the UTC Crew which poked fun at Bush (top). The image of one of the airplanes about to collide with one of the buildings is illustrated. While that is happening, Osama is smiling and pointing at this disastrous image with Bush right next to him with a clueless look on his face. This links to Jadakiss’s song, “Why” because in one of his verses he suggests that it was Bush’s fault for the World Trade Center being attacked and not Osama (47).