skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I thought it would help shed some light to let you know how I was able to sketch different views during the 911 arraignment. Above are rough sketches from my sketchbook showing two large monitors with split screen displays. Thanks to some
pre-travel negotiations and the help of several people I was given access to sketch from
these monitors. Mo, the senior video technician at Gtmo, set it up so I saw exactly what I needed to see: detainees, judge, prosecution, defense, all from the perspective I'd been dreaming about, but could not access physically. This allowed me to capture many
crucial events from the front rather than the back. My appreciation goes out to Todd Breasselle and Michelle Shephard for helping to initiate and orchestrate the 'room with a view'.
And here is a photo I took of the WTC as it looked on Saturday May 12th,'12. It is now the tallest building in NYC again, nearly completed. The solar flare shows two blue lights coming out of it, much like the projections we see each year that symbolize the original towers. A fitting coincidence.
As things wind down in Gtmo, we are having a final press conference. I did a few sketches to capture the group in a panoramic, above, and KSM's lawyer Nevin, below.
A long day in gtmo court today, starting off with all four accused refusing to speak and later, going into prayer session in court. It was an image I could not pass up sketching.
I had a unique perspective in the morning, drawing from monitors that gave me the perspective seen from in front of the court rather than in back, where I'm usually sketching behind a thick glass window in the viewing gallery. I managed to get out 8 in the morning, then moved to the courtroom viewing gallery and captured 3 more, including victim family members flown in to watch the procedure.
I have never sketched this many before- there were so many scenes I wanted to capture, so many worth capturing. KSM had dyed his beard a henna red, which was a little startling at first. That, and a female defense attorney attired in modest head-to-toe covering in deference to the detainee's beliefs.
The 9/11 co-conspirators will be arraigned this Saturday May 5 in Guantanamo, officially marking the beginning of the trial process for KSM et al.
Miami Herald has a story about it here:
Miami Herald story
I'll be traveling down to sketch, and will be updating the blog. The photo you see here was taken by AP's very talented
photographer Brennan Linsley of my hand sketching Omar Khadr.
