New York tribute follows the Celtic trail
Sunday Herald, Scotland. November 10 2002by Jenifer Johnston
It is more than a year since the events of September 11 but only now has the first major public project commemorating the dead been unveiled. Scots artist Ariane Burgess, originally from Edinburgh, enlisted 60 volunteers in New York's famous Battery Park yesterday to plant the 50,000 crocus bulbs that will complete her ambitious Labyrinth For Contemplation.
The garden project stands where the shadows of the twin towers once fell and Burgess hopes it will become a place of hope, healing and contemplation. Backed by the New York City department of parks and the Battery Park Conservancy, Burgess has spent three months building the 60ft structure.
She said she was proud and happy of the results. 'We wanted something where people could reflect on recovery and what that really means. People walking in the labyrinth will have a real connection with the World Trade Centre. When the it came down people in the city came to Battery Park -- it became a focus for people to escape the things that were going on in the city.'
The pathways of the labyrinth are constructed from paving stones recycled from other New York city parks and lined with grass, clover and mugwort.
Work began on the design in August, but the heat of New York's baking summer meant Burgess could only work for a few hours a day on the project. The layout of the labyrinth follows traditional Celtic lines.
'The pattern is called the classical seven circuit design -- it is an ancient design found all over the world from Crete to Afghanistan to Cornwall. I think that gives it a special meaning, that it is found all over the planet and now we are doing it here.'
Battery Park also has a historic connection to Scotland, as it was the first place that scores of immigrants arrived in the new world of the Americas.
Burgess said: 'Battery Park is a place of history. In Scotland you can go to the mountains if you want a little tranquillity and peace and space, but there is very little of that in New York and that is what we are trying to create.'
The park is the first thing that ferry travellers from New Jersey see on their daily commute to work. 'New Yorkers live a very high-stress lifestyle and a labyrinth is an escape from that,' she said.
Born and raised in Edinburgh, Burgess is now firmly established as a New Yorker, and holds workshops to introduce people to labyrinth design.
Her next project is to create a labyrinth in the notorious south Bronx area of the city with help from the US Forest Service. 'It is a very deprived area with a poor health record and we hope the trees we are going to use will help the environment and people's living space.'
The Battery Park labyrinth will be in place until at least August of next year and may become a permanent part of the park.
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