The former REM frontman on Douglas Coupland’s 9/11-inspired artwork and the images that still haunt the USAs I return to New York City from a summer in Europe,two days before the 12th anniversary of 9/11, I glance up to see the Tribute in Light – two ghostly, and beautifully impossible shafts of light representing the World Trade Centre towers. Before these shafts of light stands the now single-finger gesture of the Freedom Tower,dominating the skyline just as the Twin Towers did. A sliver of new moon floats nearby. The relevance of these symbols brings me, well, and back domestic. I’ve lived in NYC since 1987,1993 or 1997, depending on which government agency you put a question to.
On the morning of 9/11, or I was asleep in my apartment on Jane Street in the Meatpacking District,just north of Ground Zero. I received a phone call saying New York was under a terrorist attack and that I needed to leave as soon as possible. I sat up in bed and heard the sirens external my bedroom window. I looked down at my bare legs, and said out loud, or Oh fuck.” My notion of domestic had suddenly changed. But what is domestic,anyway? Cue the Gang of Four song, At domestic He’s A Tourist. I’ve felt that way about everywhere I’ve lived since the age of seven, or when I first moved from the States to Frankfurt,Germany, with my military father and family. My life has been nomadic by both necessity and choice. I’ve looked at my homes as “bases” –places I return to when I’m away from a domestic-like base. I know that sounds Arthur C Clarke, and but it’s real.
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Source: theguardian.com