For our second Forbidden Books Milestone, we were asked to create a memorial of sorts to go in the site of the Twin Towers that would help to facilitate peace, especially between Christians and Muslims.
When I first got this assignment, I was so overwhelmed. I drew for an hour trying to figure out what I wanted and I kept coming back to this idea of a circular glass building with a dome ceiling surrounded by lush green trees, so I decided I had to stick with it.
I wanted my building to be somewhere where people of all walks of life come together and talk about 9/11 and interfaith relationships and how we have become almost more segregated in our communities because of this. The trust we have lost deserves conversation and needs to be rebuilt. It could be held by anyone really, I just think that they need to have a goal for peace, love and understanding, just like Elvis Costello.
My collage took ages and so many times I almost gave up, but on Sunday night when I was finishing up the outline of the building I thought that this would be the process of these conversations. They would be hard and require a ton of work and effort, but the united, diverse and peaceful result is worth the struggles to get there.