Stepping Through the Ashes

Many photographers have recorded the devastation of September 11th, but Eugene Richards, as always, transcends description to offer instead a way to reconsider. And thus begin to come to terms with this tragedy. Although Richards persistently addresses some of the most difficult and painful aspects of the human condition in his work - from emergency rooms, to poverty, to crack addiction - one senses he is always, if not at him, able to cope assuredly in these circumstances. In Stepping Through the Ashes, as with his seminal book Exploding into Life which chronicled his wife's life with and eventual death from breast cancer, one senses Richards, like so many of us, is digging into the depths of his soul, trying both to work through his own feelings, and to live with the spectre of September 11th. It is for this reason that Stepping Through the Ashes is not only an extraordinary reflection in the wake of such tragedy, but also another turning point in the remarkable work of Eugene Richards.
These often metaphorical images are accompanied by Janine Altongy's dramatic interviews with family members who lost loved ones, with survivors, rescue workers, fire-fighters, a police officer, a funeral director, and other witnesses to September 11th.
 
Many photographers have recorded the devastation of September 11th, but Eugene Richards, as always, transcends description to offer instead a way to reconsider. And thus begin to come to terms with this tragedy. Although Richards persistently addresses some of the most difficult and painful aspects of the human condition in his work - from emergency rooms, to poverty, to crack addiction - one senses he is always, if not at him, able to cope assuredly in these circumstances. In Stepping Through the Ashes, as with his seminal book Exploding into Life which chronicled his wife's life with and eventual death from breast cancer, one senses Richards, like so many of us, is digging into the depths of his soul, trying both to work through his own feelings, and to live with the spectre of September 11th. It is for this reason that Stepping Through the Ashes is not only an extraordinary reflection in the wake of such tragedy, but also another turning point in the remarkable work of Eugene Richards.
These often metaphorical images are accompanied by Janine Altongy's dramatic interviews with family members who lost loved ones, with survivors, rescue workers, fire-fighters, a police officer, a funeral director, and other witnesses to September 11th.