TOM OTTERNESS Nine-Eleven (9/11), 2001

This offset lithograph by acclaimed American sculptor Tom Otterness was created in remembrance of the September 11 attacks. In his signature visual language—simple yet emotionally resonant—Otterness depicts a lone, cartoon-like figure standing amidst the ruins of the fallen Twin Towers. The image is both stark and moving, conveying a deep sense of vulnerability, grief, and reflection.

The print captures Otterness's personal response to the tragedy, offering a quiet moment of mourning and empathy through a visual that is both universally relatable and distinctly grounded in the trauma experienced by the city.

Otterness later reflected on 9/11 as “a kind of science fiction moment,” recalling how the empty streets and surreal silence in New York felt otherworldly. “It was like those ‘50s science fiction movies where all of New York has no cars… America has never had war on its soil, and so I think it is the first example… to have that brought home,” he said in an interview.(bigthink.com)

This print stands as a visual meditation on collective loss and resilience—sober, symbolic, and emotionally resonant.