The Wall of Support brought together photographs of the people who had volunteered in the Gramercy Park Block Association’s September 11 relief operation. Artist Nilda Mesa created the eight-by-four-foot collage from images supplied by Todd Maisel, Linn Sage and Arlene Harrison.
Its message—NYPD, You Make Us Proud—expressed the neighborhood’s gratitude to local officers while keeping the volunteers themselves part of the record.
The Block Association presented the work during the November 18, 2001 benefit for the families of Moira Smith, Robert Fazio and Brian McDonnell. The contemporary report described plans to install it permanently inside the 13th Precinct.
A September 2002 report confirmed that the wall had been installed.
The collage complements the Block Association’s written relief record: the meals, supplies, rest space and personal gestures that sustained emergency workers. Its subject is a community taking part.
Read about the neighborhood’s relief work and the memorial garden outside the precinct.