Requiem MMI: 25-Years Gone
Event Actions
An exhibition of artwork inspired by the September 11, 2001 tragedy created by sculptor and educator Christopher Saucedo, whose brother, Gregory—a firefighter—perished during the attacks in lower Manhattan.
Only days after the tragedy of September 11th, Professor Christopher Saucedo began working on the first body of work that makes up Requiem MMI. He was living in New York City at the time and his brother was a firefighter for the New York City Fire Department. His brother was in the Twin Towers when they collapsed and his remains were never recovered.
With the crystalline blue sky of September 11, 2011, burned into his mind, the artist got to work creating the ethereal series World Trade Center as a Cloud. Saucedo used linen pulp and moulds to press his representations of the Twin Towers onto the bright blue handmade paper background.
Ten years after the attack and his brother’s death, Saucedo was ready to revisit the event. In 2011, Christopher created the Branded Firefighter series, where he brands photographs of his brother with ten water vessels per photograph. Saucedo uses fire and water as a nod to the crucial tools of a firefighter. The poetic series puts a human touch to the tragedy.
20 years after the disaster, Saucedo was ready to revisit the next chapter of his tribute to September 11. Saucedo had exclusive access to the Twin Towers site during the clean-up and was able to scavenge an elevator weight from the site. For the 20th anniversary of the attack, Christopher has cut the silhouette of the Twin Towers into the elevator weight. Above the weight hangs an airy representation of the towers. One half of the piece is held down with the weight of the disaster while the second part hovers above, showing that it will get better.
The World Trade Center as a Cloud and Branded Firefighter series were shown at the New Orleans Museum of Art in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001.
- On View: September 15–October 18, 2026
- Reception: Thursday, September 24 from 4:30–6:30pm
Learn more about Adelphi Art Exhibitions. Follow us on Instagram @AUExhibitions. Take a look at our Art Gallery Hours page for visiting hours.
For more information, please contact Eliz Alahverdian at alahverdian@adelphi.edu.
About the Artist
Christopher Saucedo
About the Artist: Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1964, sculptor and educator Christopher Saucedo has exhibited his artwork nationally and internationally for nearing four decades. He earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1986 and his MFA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1988. After attending the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, he completed post-graduate work at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. Over his distinguished career, Saucedo has received numerous prestigious grants, including awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
As an educator, Saucedo ran the sculpture program at the University of New Orleans for 20 years, eventually retiring as Chair of the Department of Fine Arts. He currently serves as a professor of art at Adelphi University in New York, where he directs the sculpture studio. Today, he continues to live and maintain his artistic practice dividing his time between New Orleans and Rockaway Beach, New York.