One Inch:One Person -- September 11th to Scale (formerly titled "The 6000 Project")
September 2002-- Pixmaven is currently endeavoring to archive this memorial project. As time permits, every panel will become available for viewing along with artist information, writings, and further documentation. May 2002, Somerville, Massachusetts-- This unique memorial has recently been displayed at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge as well as during the Somerville Open Studios. The project includes artwork in variety of media (watercolor, collage, assemblage, photography, pen/ink, etc.) by a wide range of people, from grade school teachers and their classes to professional artists, 144 contributors in all. (See a selection of contributions below.) Days after the 9.11 attacks, while trying to visualize the vast number of lives lost (which initial news reports placed close to 6000), artist and jeweler Jade Moran formulated the beginnings of the project. "I was looking out my studio window, trying to find some way to comprehend the enormity of it all. I wanted a visual representation because numbers are just too abstract," Moran said. "I imagined one inch representing one person and began to see how much space that would fill. I felt I needed this to be fully realized and make these numbers tangible." Moran invited local artists and the community at large to participate in the memorial, with the goal of representing the total number lives lost. Basic guidelines called for a 5x5-inch panel with a 1-inch grid, each 1x1-inch square containing a human face or form. Submissions came pouring in not only from local schools and artists, but also from people all across the country that had heard about the project online and through press coverage. Moran now aims to have the completed project display in other venues, perhaps as a traveling exhibition. "A lot of the contributors have told me that making their pieces was difficult but therapeutic, even cathartic. Hopefully viewing the project will be therapeutic for others as well," Moran said. After generating a very positive response during the Open Studios, that hope certainly seems with merit. While contributions are no longer actively sought, please contact Ms. Moran for further details or visit her site jademoran.com. Thanks everyone for all the support and ecouragement and especially for contributing!