Ground Zero in Focus: Exhibit of Rare 9-11 Photographs in Buffalo's Quaker Bonnet Eatery

Buffalo tattoo artist Shanghai Kate Hellenbrand has joined with Liz Konklin, owner of Quaker Bonnet Bakery and Eatery, to exhibit rare and powerful photographs and brief first-hand accounts from other survivors of the attacks on the World Trade Twin Towerson September 11, 2001. The show will be at Allentown’s Quaker Bonnet Eatery, 175 Allen Street (near Elmwood) beginning on September 11th through October 1st.

Buffalo, NY (PRWEB) September 12, 2006 -- We are all, in a sense, survivors of the events of September 11th, 2001. To acknowledge the anniversary of that terrible day five years ago, Buffalo tattoo artist Shanghai Kate Hellenbrand has joined with Liz Konklin, owner of Quaker Bonnet Bakery and Eatery, to exhibit rare and powerful photographs and brief first-hand accounts from other survivors of this national tragedy. The exhibit will be available in Buffalo's Quaker Bonnet Eatery, 175 Allen Street (near Elmwood) beginning on September 11th through October 1st.

Hellenbrand lived and worked only blocks away from the Twin Towers and watched as the second plane hit the second Tower from the rooftop of her home. She was officially listed by the FBI as number 3,835 of the original 6,000 people presumed dead or missing.

The photographs on view are a small portion of over 700 photographs given to Hellenbrand by one of the Fire Captains involved in the recovery effort. While the site was listed as a “crime scene,” this Captain was able to take his camera into the “pit” when smoke, dust and fire were still billowing. “He gave me these photographs as a reward for tattooing so many of those who came from all over the country to work at Ground Zero for the year of the clean-up,” Hellenbrand says.

“Over 400,000 people in my neighborhood lost their jobs, their homes, some even more. One half of the artists working for me at my tattoo shop immediately quit and moved from New York City. My shop’s building was so badly damaged, it was judged unsuitable for business so we had to close our doors. I was diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome,” Hellenbrand says. The year after the attacks of 9/11 was even more traumatic than the actual attack and it was the propelling reason Hellenbrand also left New York City for the more “livable” city of Buffalo. After happily announcing to the FBI that I was indeed alive and well, I moved to Buffalo where I spent the first anniversary of that awful event working in my newly adopted city. That move was the first step in my healing.”

The exhibit will be available for viewing during Quaker Bonnet Eatery’s normal working hours: Mon and Tues, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

What:      Exhibit of 9/11 Ground Zero photographs

Where:   Quaker Bonnet Eatery
      175 Allen Street (near Elmwood)
      Buffalo, NY 14201
      
When:      September 11th, through October 1st, 2006
      Mon, Tues:       9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
      Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat:   9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
      Closed Sundays

Who:      Shanghai Kate Hellenbrand     716-883-1300
      Liz Konklin          716-884-0435

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