Hong Kong photographer Gretchen So has kindly allowed otsoNY to publish some of her remarkable New York photographs, of which all contain the Twin Towers that once stood tall and elegant in lower Manhattan’s financial district. Besides being an avid photographer, Gretchen is also an educator, arts administrator, and a determined explorer of social issues. She holds a Master’s degree in Photography from Yale University and attended an MA programme in Arts Administration at Columbia University. She also has a BFA with Honours in Photography and a BA Distinction in Asian Studies from the University of Manitoba, Canada.

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

Her stunning images of New York offer every possible angle of the Twin Towers as they stood in the 1990s, and as such provide a powerful reminder of the artistic merit of these glass-and-aluminium-alloy pillars of modern times. Those these images were taken 20 years ago, and they validate the notion that the Twin Towers are never-to-be-forgotten.

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

The photographs reveal the artist’s fascination with the monolithic symbolism of the buildings. Most images feature the towers from remote locations in New Jersey, Queens and Brooklyn, and how the farther Gretchen went from them, the more ubiquitous their presence appeared in the skyline. She portrays the buildings not so much as an engineering marvel, but rather as an omnipresent witnesses of modern life in cosmopolitan New York in early 90s, when the Twin Towers were reigning as the symbol of opportunity and success.

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

(Photo by Gretchen So)

The full collection is available to view from her official website: www.gretchenso.com