They’ll be everywhere in coming days, as the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 approaches: images depicting the horror of the attacks, the unspeakable collapses, and the resulting devastation. There will be no shortage of them. They’ll be all but inescapable.
Bob and Elisabeth McKay of McKay Imaging Studio and Gallery wanted to commemorate the anniversary in a different way. They’ve decided instead to “celebrate New York,” says Bob.
Starting Friday, the McKay Gallery, at 12 Monmouth Street, will feature the works of 23 area photographers in a show entitled “New York City.”
“We felt there was already going to be a lot of that,” Bob says of the attack images. “We wanted to show another side of the city.”
A single image by each photographer was selected for either the unique perspective or the classic vision of New York that it offers, he says.
The closest the show comes to a direct reference to the attacks is in a picture depicting a Tribute in Lights memorial. “We didn’t want to totally ignore it,” Bob says of 9/11.
Most of the photographers in the display are from Monmouth County, and about third of them live and work in Red Bank. Among the borough residents is the show’s youngest participant, Francesco Cenicola, a 15-year-old student at Red Bank Regional High School.
The show runs from Sept. 8 through Oct. 15, and opens with a reception Friday from 7 to 10p. Gallery hours are Wednesday and Thursdays, 1p to 7p, or by appointment.
The photographers represented in the show are: Nathaniel Bear, Francesco Cenicola, Sandy Cook, John Decker, Joel Eisenberg, Carter Farmer, Tom Gilmour, Lauren Grabelle, Robert Grunke, Jay Hochheiser, Bobbie Kingsley, Michael Lee, Chris Lundgren, Michael Marcelle, Rosemarie McIntosh, Mike McLaughlin, Joe Pacheco, Richard Reich, George Roos, Jeff Smith, Ambra Talarico, Valentine and Colleen Woolpert.
