BEVERLY — The images of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center, people jumping to their deaths and horrified hordes fleeing lower Manhattan are part of the iconography of Sept. 11, 2001.
A new exhibit at the Beverly Public Library takes a less familiar look at the national tragedy that will mark its ninth anniversary next Saturday.
"And Then There Was Quiet: New York After the Attack" focuses on the days following Sept. 11, when layers of dust transformed everyday objects into eerie symbols and New Yorkers walked the streets with what artist David Gordon calls "that 10-mile stare."
Gordon, who grew up and lives in Beverly, took the photographs three days after the attack, then returned a week later to shoot more. He said he felt drawn to New York City after watching what he called the "hysterical" TV coverage from his living room.
"There was something important missing from what I was seeing on TV," he said. "Everybody who was there tried to photograph the big things, but people found it hard to connect with that. It was overwhelming. I tried to focus on small, very intimate moments."
Gordon's exhibit, which will also be on display at the Statehouse, features more than 20 mounted photographs, plus another 20 photos of the "missing posters" that family members of victims put up after the attack.
There's also a glass terrarium half-filled with dust, the mix of concrete and paver from the demolished Twin Towers that covered the area like snow. As Gordon set up the terrarium one night earlier this week, he leaned over and sniffed.
"That was the smell of downtown Manhattan," he said.
One photograph shows a row of hangars inside a jeans shop layered with dust. The pictures of people show a silent camaraderie as they stare at a wall of missing-person photos, wait for a cab with masks covering their mouths or gather at a candlelight memorial.
"It's quiet, and everybody's there trying to be helpful," Gordon said. "People in other parts of the country were waiting for the next shoe to drop. For people in New York, it had already fallen. When I showed it in New York, people said, 'Yes, that's what it was like.'"
Gordon first exhibited the show one year after the attacks, and it has been shown somewhere nearly every year since. Admission is always free. Gordon said he refuses to make money on it due to the nature of the subject matter.
The show opened this week at the Beverly Public Library and will run to Sept. 30. Gordon will give a lecture Saturday, Sept. 11, at 2 p.m. A similar show, "Intimate Views of 9/11," will be held at the Statehouse from Sept. 7 through 17.
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by e-mail at pleighton@salemnews.com.
