The 20th Anniversary of 9/11 Being Commemorated

DENVER, Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver native, Michael Rieger, today announced a major photo etching exhibition and community event to honor the heroes of the response to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. It is called, Remember the Love. Work on the exhibition is underway and it is slated to open to the public in September 2021. It is being funded initially via a Kickstarter campaign.

Rieger was one of two official FEMA photographers who worked at Ground Zero in the early days of the response. His images were uploaded daily to media outlets throughout the world and remain part of everyone's collective memory of that day and its aftermath.

"The way everyone pulled together in response to the 9/11 attacks is a model for this moment in America. We need to remember – and celebrate – that we can set aside our differences and do great things together," Rieger said.

Local responders from communities all over the country played a pivotal role in search and rescue effort in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Rieger was there with them on the pile, documenting the men and women clawing through rubble looking for survivors.

He says firefighters, police, federal rescue teams, clergy, and volunteers were the obvious heroes during those challenging days, but he says it was the support, appreciation and love he felt from the people he passed on the street walking to and from Ground Zero each day that inspired the Remember the Love name for the upcoming exhibition.

"Today we are grappling with multiple crises, a global pandemic, a reckoning on race and social justice, and the aftermath of an election that has left the nation shaken," Rieger said.

"This exhibition and the events planned around it will celebrate the heroes of 9/11 and celebrate our nation when it pulled together, cried together and healed together in the same way we need to again today."

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City features Rieger's work as a part of its permanent collection. His work is also part of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Rieger hopes to launch multiple exhibitions simultaneously in cities around the country where people from all walks of life can see them. He is focusing on the states that include federal Urban Search and Recues teams he worked with. This includes Colorado, New York, Washington State, Utah, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, California, Florida, and Washington DC.

Rieger's work has been shown in galleries, festivals and museums throughout the United States. His photos have been published all over the world.

To schedule an interview with Michael Rieger, contact Jim Chesnutt at (303) 513-2389. Preview photos of the etchings in progress as well as historical images from the response to the 9/11 attacks are available to accompany this story.

SOURCE Michael Rieger