I found these photographs I took when living in NYC in 2002-04 of an antiwar demonstration in Washington Square Park – post nine eleven, the ‘war’ was on, and the Bush-administration felt omnipresent. It was hard to talk politics, even with other artists in the city, obviously, all had been through a very traumatic experience. Against the war that was so scarily weird, with an ‘invisible’ enemy everywhere, all mornings started with the daily alert-thermometer going from green to red to orange.
One day in the summer, it was so hot 40 degrees Celsius, all air-conditions were on, the streets were very warmly buzzing, living close to Washington Square Park the area was always alive. I needed a rest, my tiny television was blaring, Bush was on, I turned the sound down, fell asleep with the windows open towards the street.
Waking up, all was strangely silent. The telly was out black. No music was heard. Only voices and people talking in the streets, panic rose in me, until I understood all the power was cut. No cell phones working, no buzzers, no nothing. I was going to meet my boyfriend at the time in Lower East Side in his place, but we could not communicate, so I left a note for my wonderful roommate and tried my luck, walking the streets of a New York, where so many people couldn’t get home, no subways, no trains. All the clocks around the city had stopped at 04:10pm. The atmosphere was the friendliest and most giggling I have ever met in New York. My boyfriend was at home, I can’t remember if I called up to him from the street, or if someone left the building so I could slip in. As the evening fell and nighttime rose, we walked through the completely dark streets of New York, a few shops sold gallons of water for cash, by candlelight, a car here and there had the ‘radio’ on playing music. It was so dark, even our feet felt invisible, going through Chinatown, and we had to be careful not falling into a pit or hole. We went down to Battery Park as many others and looked out over the water, New Jersey was all lit up. The electricity had blacked out most of the East Coast all the way up into Canada.
The next day, I had to go to work in the Academy’s drama library, I wasn’t sure whether I should go in, so we walked the way up to Madison Avenue, the parks were full of people recreating and relaxing, and all was calm. The Academy of cause was closed, the library too, so we sat in the park looking at the clock still saying 04:10 and then approximately 24hours after the blackout started the power returned.
It was without a doubt the best 24hours I have ever spent in New York, and they have imprinted themselves in me forever as hours I should never fully forget.
When leaving NYC I was sure I would be back in an instant. It’s been more than twenty years now, and I haven’t been back, which is strange. The plan was to go back here in January ’25 but things changed, and we ended up not being able to go after all. Maybe that’s why I am so extremely New York City reminiscent.
