Christopher BlackwellW 40th St between 10th Ave and 11th AveHeart Two · Location 133 · Drawn December 200112345Select a number to open a drawing state.The published 2006 collage is shown above. The numbered links open archival images. Use your browser’s Back button to return here.PhotographsDownload photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Video podcast0:00The drawing for this wall is on 40th Street between 10th and 11th Avenue near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.0:08The drawing is on the side of the St. Nikola Tavolik Creation Center.0:12The side of the building that it's on is encompassed by a gate and is their private courtyard.0:18If you look carefully at the wall, about 8 feet in from the gated entrance, you can see a hint of where the hand was.0:26It peeled a little bit of the paint off and you can still count five of the fingers.0:30This is Christopher Blackwell.0:32He was drawn in December of 2001.0:36His drawing is counting ten people.0:39This location took weeks to get to.0:41The entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel is still swarming with authority figures assigned to0:45keep a lookout for anything out of the ordinary.0:48In this case, unfortunately, I fall squarely into that category.0:52This courtyard belongs to an Armenian church overlooking the tunnel entrance.0:57I had eyed this wall on many occasions, but it remained unreachable.1:01I set out on a Sunday to assure finding the church inhabited.1:05One open church door, one language barrier, and one padlock later, I was given enthusiastic permission to go about my work.1:14However, it turned out to be no easy task.1:16ask. The sun-scorched wall was left with a fine layer of powdery paint that the tape would not1:22stick to. My thankfulness for being in the space, a small audience, pure willpower, and a lot of1:28pounding made the tape miraculously stay up. Christopher Blackwell's drawing remained standing1:34weeks later. He was interested in anything that was dangerous, his mother Frances Allen said.1:40He was born with no sense of fear. When he was little, he would swim underwater before he would1:45would swim on top of it. My other three children were a lot easier. When he was not on the job,1:50Firefighter Blackwell, 42, devoted his time to his wife, Jane, and their three children,1:55Alexandra, who was 15, Ryan, 13, and Samantha.← Location 132Heart Two · Location 133Location 134 →
