Susan Mareneck

 

Drawings

Night Light - 100 Church Street

1985, Charcoal on Lenox paper

Early study of specific buildings and views in Lower Manhattan at a time when it was one of the most densely built human environments on earth (no longer the case). Illumined by the World Trade Center above and Church Street below, it is a night view from a series called, "Before 9/11".  Captured in a pre-digital world where intimacy in the relationship of resident and built environment was the product of familiarity over time, it documents my rootedness in Lower Manhattan.  Life in Tribeca in the 1970's and 80"s was in the throes of a return to human concerns - quality of life issues like schools, open space, preservation - after an era of commercialization.  Every dimension of the neighborhood, every person, every block, every building contributed energy and detail to the rich historical fabric of life in the emerging community.