Public Employee Press

City employees in art show focus on WTC tragedy

Seven years ago, the events of 9/11 brought a small group of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375 members together — united by their experiences of that tragic day. This summer, they exhibited their art in the second annual City Workers Exhibition at the century-old Salmagundi Club, a center for fine artists.

Valentina “Tina” Karmanskaya, a Design Project Manager for the New York City Housing Authority, was in her office at 90 Church St. when the terrorists struck. “My colleagues and I witnessed the tragedy through the windows,” she recalled. “For the next year or so, we were sad and angry all the time. You see some of this sadness in my art work.”

Construction Project Manager Michael Kenny of the Dept. of Design and Construction spent seven months at Ground Zero. “My health has been affected and my outlook on life has been changed, but in a good way,” he said. Kenny’s watercolor, “WTC: Inside the Pit,” depicts “the aftermath of 9/11 and how the victims of that day must have felt,” he said.

Joshua Barnett, a CPM at NYCHA, was on his way to work at 90 Church St. when the attacks occurred. “After 9/11, the building was heavily contaminated and NYCHA moved us to other offices. Many members who worked on the cleanup had their health badly harmed,” said Barnett.

His opus is a collage of black and white photos of exploited workers from around the world and the quote, “When a man tells you he got rich through hard work, ask him whose?”

All three artists were buoyed by theexperience. “This was a good opportunity to share a part of me with others, as well as sneak into their souls, too,” said Karmanskaya. “I met the most amazing people while I worked at the site. This gathering of artists shows just how talented city workers are,” said Kenny.