Images of the destruction at Ground Zero are on display at the QCC Art Gallery. Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
Queensborough Community College hosts haunting
9/11 photo exhibition by fi rst responder alumnus
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | SEPT. 17 - SEPT. 23, 2021 17
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
A new photo exhibit at the
Queensborough Community
College (QCC) Art Gallery,
entitled “A Tribute: 2001-2021”
by a university alumnus and
former first responder, is
commemorating the 20th anniversary
of the 9/11 terror
attacks.
The haunting exhibit features
more than 80 Ground
Zero photos taken by retired
FDNY forensic photographer
Chris Landano, a former QCC
student.
The impressions of entangled
steel beams as well as
toxic and smoldering debris
at Ground Zero show a scene
that can only be compared to
a war zone. Landano’s images
captured the worst of humanity
and illustrate the heroic
rescue, recovery and cleanup
mission by first responders
in the aftermath of the attack
on the twin towers.
The then 23-year-old firefighter
had been with the
FDNY forensic photo unit for
nine months and was near
the Brooklyn Bridge when
the horrific events of 9/11 unfolded
before his eyes.
He remembered talking to
his supervisor, who told him
to get as close to the World
Trade Center as he could —
and pray.
Landano was on the
Brooklyn Bridge when the
first tower collapsed, and he
eventually found his way to
Church Street in downtown
Manhattan.
“It was a whole other world
with all the dust,” Landano
said.H
is mission was to reach
the command post in the
lobby of the north tower and
join his supervisor and colleagues.
“They were in the lobby
photographing,” Chris said.
“They barely made it when
the buildings came down, but
that was my mission. My mission
was to get to the lobby,
which never happened.”
Even though he had a bag
full of cameras and film on
him, Landano didn’t take any
photos of the horror that unfolded.
“I was helping people here
and there, wherever I could,”
Landano recalled. “I was on
the pile, just trying to move
debris. I was kind of all over
the place as everyone was.
I felt a little bit out of place
because I’m a photographer
and a first responder. I’m assigned
to the photo unit, but
I didn’t take one photo that
day.”
Landano, who grew up in
Queens, studied photography
at QCC. He took hundreds, if
not thousands, of photos at
Ground Zero between Sept.
12, 2001, and May 2002.
“I photographed on the
ground, from the air, even
from rooftops,” he said, adding
that he took photos from
a 54-story building while sitting
on the ledge.
Landano even captured
the scale of the destruction
from a NASA helicopter,
which was equipped with a
thermal imaging camera trying
to locate bodies under the
mountains of debris.
“I was up on rooftops all
around. So I got a good 360
view of the site. I remember,
sometimes, as far as October
when they lifted the steel, and
a puff of smoke would come
out. So it was still smoking a
month later,” he said.
Landano retired from the
FDNY in March 2021 and is
one of the many first responders
who suffers from 9/11-related
illnesses.
He was diagnosed with
thyroid cancer and had half
of his thyroid removed last
March because of exposure to
the toxic dust at Ground Zero.
“But I’m lucky, ” Landano
said. “There are hundreds of
firefighters that are sick now.
There’s hundreds of firefighters
that are dying. I know
guys that were down there for
one or two days, and they’re
sick, or they’re dead. So, I’m
enjoying life.”
And that he does. He invented
Trakbelt 360, a utility
belt that rotates tool pouches
and holsters around the waist
for safety, comfort and versatility.
He noted that NBC
picked his product for one of
their inventions shows.
He also started up a consulting
business helping inventors
and entrepreneurs
get their products to market.
His entrepreneurial spirit
doesn’t leave much time for
photography these days.
“It’s crazy,” Landano said.
“When I met my wife, I was
big into the cameras and photography.
Then I invented
this product, and it took over
my life.”
The fire department is
still part of his life, and he
planned to spend 9/11 at his
old firehouse in Springfield.
“I love the fire department.
I love the people. I love
the members, people I battled
with, bled with, you know,”
the 43-year old said. “I will
always be at my firehouse for
as long as it’s in my control.”
Assemblyman David
Weprin said the exhibition
showed that the recovery was
a mission with real meaning,
which Landano captured
through his lens.
“The good thing about it
is how everybody came together,”
Weprin said. “The
positive of humanity came together,
and everybody was a
little nicer to everybody else.
And it really changed us and
our lives forever.”
Queensborough Community
College President Dr.
Christine Mangino said that it
was essential to tell the stories
and experiences of 9/11 to the
younger generation and that
art exhibitions, memorials and
vigils kept the memories alive.
“As someone who grew up
in the 9/11 generation, it is
such a formative part of my
experience as a New Yorker,”
Dr. Mangino said. “It is meaningful
and important to commemorate
9/11 every year
and never to forget the action
of that day, both tragic and
horrific. I don’t think we will
ever be the same.”
The installation is complemented
by a student-curated
exhibit of archival photographs
and images of artifacts
from the 9/11 Memorial
& Museum’s permanent collection,
and will run through
Oct. 10.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions,
visitors are encouraged
to contact the QCC Art Gallery
office at 718-631-6396 to
schedule an appointment.
For more information, visit
artgallery.qcc.cuny.edu.