Vera Lutter: Studies for Ground Zero
Images
Vera Lutter, Study for Ground Zero I, November 1–5, 2001, 2001. Gelatin silver print; framed: 29 x 33 x 2 in. (73.3 x 83.8 x 5.1 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Francis Dittmer, 2009.11.a. © 2001 Vera Lutter
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Vera Lutter, Study for Ground Zero II, November 7–13, 2001, 2001. Gelatin silver print; framed: 29 x 33 x 2 in. (73.3 x 83.8 x 5.1 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Francis Dittmer, 2009.11.b. © 2001 Vera Lutter
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Vera Lutter, Study for Ground Zero III, January 15–25, 2002, 2002. Gelatin silver print; framed: 29 x 33 x 2 in. (73.3 x 83.8 x 5.1 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Francis Dittmer, 2009.11.c. © 2002 Vera Lutter
Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA ChicagoAbout
Commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and in remembrance of the many lives lost and affected by those tragic events, Vera Lutter's Studies for Ground Zero are on view through September 12. Lutter's signature use of the camera obscura—a process in which a full-size room is turned into a giant photographic lens; in this case, a room in a building across the street from Ground Zero—here transforms the site into a ghostly, haunting cityscape. In many ways what is represented here is the absence and void left behind by the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers, something that is accentuated by the display of the negative print, rather than a positive reproduction. This focus on the “negative,” both literally and figuratively, further reflects on the solemnity of this memorial display.