Further images / Return to 2003
Description: Post 9-11 in 2002, many personal memorial texts were observed in various forms by the Action Researcher/Performer on the streets of New York. School children had attached hand-painted ceramic tiles to fences of vacant lots, flags and fabric were secured to walls with personal commentary written across them in thick black marker pen and images of 'hearts' and words such as 'hope' were painted directly onto the pavement surface. The significant grief felt by the local population appeared to have attached itself onto and between the physical structures of the city. Thinking about the many stories that were lost on that day (pulled down from the sky into the iconic architecture of the city), the Action Researcher/Performer began collecting narratives from the local streets and writing these onto A4 sheets of paper before folding them into paper aeroplanes. The paper planes were then sent adrift across the alternate city of Sydney for passers-by to chance upon. Some stories continued across multiple pieces of paper and consequently landed in different parts of the city. The number of planes recovered by any individual providing a more detailed, accumulating account of the narratives from site.