Michael Arad discusses his design of the "Reflecting Absence" memorial at Ground Zero:
Also check out The Jewish Week’s interview with Arad:
Few profiles of Michael Arad, the architect of the Sept. 11 memorial that opens this week, have failed to mention that he is Israeli — the son of a former ambassador, no less. But most stop there, shying away from details, in no small part because Arad wants it that way.
“For me, it’s not about my nationality, and I made a point for it never to become about that,” Arad, 42, recently told The Jewish Week. “If people want to see something that’s not there, they can, but it’s pointless.”
Arad’s argument is that the memorial is for everyone, no matter his or her background. “One of the things that was most important to me was to make this for everyone,” he said. “I think that what happened that day happened to all New Yorkers, and I responded to it foremost as a New Yorker.”
He added: “I can talk about memory and loss of life — it’s something I grew up with a sensitivity to. But I’m always hesitant to hold these out as a foil against some other kind of remembering. They’re universal.” …
