09/11/2026
Today we pause to remember September 11th, 2001, and to honor the lives, stories, and legacies of those impacted.
Twenty-five years ago, photographer stood at a crossroads familiar to many artists in moments of tragedy: How could he contribute?
While countless photographers were documenting the devastation at Ground Zero, Joe McNally wondered if there was another story that needed to be told, the story of the people who came to help.
That question became Faces of Ground Zero, an extraordinary portrait project created with what was, at the time, the world’s only giant Polaroid camera. Now, these powerful portraits have found a permanent home in the archives of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where they will continue to tell the stories of the people behind one of the most consequential events in modern history.
McNally set out to use his camera to make a contribution. Twenty-five years later, those photographs have become part of the permanent historical record. And perhaps that is the greatest contribution a photograph can make: to keep a face from becoming just a name, to keep a story from disappearing, and to ensure that the people behind history are never forgotten.
