An art installation at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum showcases the emotional journey of children who lost parents or siblings in the 2001 terror attacks. Titled "The Feathers of the Phoenix," the papier-mâché sculpture is composed entirely of artwork created by attendees of America's Camp, a free, weeklong program that supported the children of 9/11 victims for ten summers.
The camp, held annually in the Berkshires, concluded as planned in 2011, marking the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. The sculpture, which has a 15-foot wingspan, features feathers and wings assembled from heart-shaped notes and drawings contributed by the young campers.
Traci Molloy, the former artistic director of America's Camp, described the sculpture as a collection of stories reflecting love and loss. The children who participated in the camp grew up together, forging a family-like bond through their shared experiences.
"I have had the extraordinary gift of being able to watch them grow up," Molloy said. "I have known them longer than their deceased parent, and so has everyone at America's Camp."
The young artists are descendants of the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four airplanes, crashing them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Siblings Amy and Chris Gardner, whose father, firefighter Thomas Gardner, died on 9/11, attended America's Camp for several years. Amy Gardner recalled her last memory of her father waving goodbye before he left for work, while Chris Gardner described the difficulty of waiting for news in the days following the attacks.
Brittney Roy, who was in second grade when her father died on 9/11, said it was hard to fully grasp what had happened at the time. "Sometimes it's hard to believe, 'Wait, I actually went through that,'" Roy stated.
Roy, Amy Gardner, and Chris Gardner all described America's Camp as a vital space that provided a sense of normalcy and allowed them to simply be children again during a difficult period. "The opportunities they gave us, the friendships they gave, the bonds, the ability, at the time when we were just all labeled the 9/11 kids, to just be kids again -- it truly gave me my childhood back," Roy said.
Among the contributions to the phoenix sculpture are a Hawaiian flower, representing a camper's mother's heritage, and a drawing with a poignant description: "Man somewhere he shouldn't be." Molloy noted that "you could feel the ache and the longing" in the children's artwork.
Chris Gardner reflected on the sculpture's significance, stating, "There's no getting over grief. You kind of live with it and learn to endure it. And it's a new kind of life. Projects like this are one of those things that kind of help you understand that."