City Hall will mark the 24th anniversary of 9\/11 with an art exhibition organized by former police officer Paul McCormack \u2014 who lost most of his sight because of the terror attacks \u2014 and his wife Nicola McClean, who is a photographer.<\/p>\n
Their nonprofit group, Ground Zero 360, is showcasing artwork from around the world, urging New Yorkers to never forget what happened on that day that tore apart the city \u2014 and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Twenty-four years ago, McCormack was an NYPD officer responding to the terror attacks in Lower Manhattan after two planes were hijacked, flown into the Twin Towers, taking the lives of nearly 3,000 people.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were missing posters that went up everywhere in the city, the subways, the hospitals, the train stations, everywhere,\u201d he recalled. “The largest mobilization of the NYPD, it was called, we went into our precincts, and it was chaos. It took us a while to come to grips.”<\/p>\n McCormack lost most of his sight, he says, because of chemicals at the cleanup site.<\/p>\n But his memories stay with him, clear as that fateful day.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people, first responders there, that are dying of cancers, respiratory diseases. Every week or two you hear of some firefighter that passed, it\u2019s horrible,\u201d McCormack told NY1.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why McCormack and McClean \u2014 then a photographer for The Irish Voice newspaper also on the scene in 2001 \u2014 created Ground Zero 360, which is dedicated to remembering the victims, their families and the survivors through art.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to bring attention to what happened because, as they say, if you forget your past, you\u2019re doomed to repeat it in the future. So, we\u2019re trying to keep the memory alive and never forget the sacrifice of so many on that terrible day,\u201d McCormack said.<\/p>\n More than 60 artists from around the world created pieces on what 9\/11 meant to them for the 10-year anniversary in 2011.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n While they\u2019ve been shown across the world, they\u2019re coming to New York City for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what they were feeling, the emotion behind these paintings,\u201d he told NY1 during a Monday tour ahead of the exhibit\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n Starting Monday, more than 30 works from a collection of more than 120 pieces including photographs, drawings, paintings, and mixed media will be on display for the next two months.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember when the first tower fell, on my police radio, a female\u2019s voice came over the air calling for help, a female police officer,\u201d McCormack said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something different when a female calls for help, and there\u2019s something really sickening in your gut when there\u2019s absolutely nothing you can do to help them. We later found out that the police officer\u2019s voice was Moira Smith.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith, 38, was the first NYPD officer to report a plane crash into the North Tower. She is also the only female officer who died that day.<\/p>\n Her portrait is featured inside the rotunda.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone talks about her smile, you just can\u2019t help but smile, thinking about her, and the world\u2019s not as fun a place anymore since she\u2019s been gone,\u201d said Jimmy Smith, her husband and also a retired member of the NYPD.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love this painting that Jim Fitzpatrick did, that’s her photo from her ID when she came on the job. Her rookie photo. You\u2019re not supposed to smile, but she couldn\u2019t help it,\u201d he told NY1.<\/p>\n \u201cI see all these pictures, it brings back the good memories, and then you know, some of the stuff is pretty dark too. So it\u2019s a testament to what those heroes did on that day,\u201d he said of the exhibit.<\/p>\n QR codes provide onlookers with explanations from the artists themselves. Pieces like \u201cTwenty-three,\u201d by artist Guggi, honors the 23 NYPD officers killed that day.<\/p>\n Hughie O’Donoghue painted the numbers 3-4-3 on a book to remember the number of firefighters killed.\u00a0<\/p>\n One photo by Nicola McClean depicts two empty shoes outside the Wall Street subway station.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s an event that everybody that was around knows what you were doing, where you were at the time, there\u2019s so many different genres of artists, it\u2019s just an eclectic mix of different art,\u201d McCormack said.<\/p>\n Originally from Ireland, McCormack would love to return to City Hall next year for the 25th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n