I found out about your project after typing in "flip books" into various search engines (my boyfriend collects them, but he's not having this one! It's too sacred and he likes cartoons anyway)
I feel that although in one way it is keeping the memory of that awful day alive in peoples minds, especially who have lost someone close to them, most are not going to forget the day anyway as it was so traumatic, even here in the U.K. the horror was felt. It was like world war three was starting. Our RAF were flying up and down the south coast in Sussex where I was staying for a week. They thought it was a world attack.
I was on a botanical illustration holiday in Sussex when it happened. We had no TV, no radio so had no visual idea of the extent of the damage. That in itself was frightening. (I'm very visual, I have hearing problems - Meniere's Disease and I've found that my art work has improved since I developed it in June 2001)
All we had in Sussex was an email from someone who could see the smoke and devastation unfold on TV, she was in the USA, she thought it was a film (fiction) at first. She was trying to contact one of our group to say she was okay after realising that it was all very real. She was due to go to the trade centre for a job interview that morning but it was cancelled as the boss was ill (lucky for him and her)
I spoke to my dad later that day, he sounded so shaky on the phone at home in Leicester and he talked for an hour about it, he had seen some sights during his life-time but he was horrified at these events. One thing he did predict during that call was that we would see more horrific film as time passed. I think the film of close up footage of people falling to their death was unnecessary, which was shown here in September.
The day after the towers fell our college wheeled in an ancient TV and we sat and watched the repeated footage unable to move, Everyone in the room (about 200 people on various art courses) sat in silence, quite a few from the USA were in tears, one had lost colleagues from a company who were situated higher than where one of the planes hit. By the end of the day most of us were upset, nearly all of us knew of people lost that day.
We had seen the newspapers first thing in the morning but there was something more real about seeing the moving image, it showed the full horror. Yes the media did go overboard, it was relentless, we all needed a distraction. We carried on with our painting but the silence in the room was heavy, most of us work without noise so we are not distracted, fine tiny brush-strokes need concentration. Music didn't help, in fact it was more upsetting. In the end we and the tutor had the day off, we went for a walk to look around the grounds of West Dean and some of us went shopping (retail therapy!) I bought a large sable watercolour brush from an art shop, it cost me £80, but I thought "what the hell, we may not be here tomorrow" You know - everything in our little world seemed more vibrant, we all painted better the next day, our visual senses were heightened.
A week later getting home was a nightmare, I was stopped and searched at St. Pancras station, probably because I had a back-pack.
I feel that seeing those images now are different, we still feel the pain but to forget what happened would not achieve anything. Keeping those images alive now adds to OUR power, we will not be frightened by the minority few who want to impose their views on us and we remember to keep alert to what could happen next. We must not forget.
Your art project is perfect for this. Those of us that want to see and be reminded can be, those of us who don't, need not be, it is our choice, unlike the media who bombarded our TV screens for days afterwards.
My friend's family choose not to watch the TV programmes that come on our screens on the anniversary's of 9/11 as it is still hard for them. For me, I'm like my dad, I'm interested in people's minds and how they work (did various part time courses on sociology, management people skills and how killers kill) Although a lot has been said about these murderers being brain-washed or programmed into committing these acts, I feel that the person concerned has to have a certain type of mind - so interesting yet horrifying.

Wendy Parker