Alfred Gilles Padre Joseph MarchandE 101st St between 3rd Ave and Lexington AveHeart Four · Location 468 · Drawn July 2004Download photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Download photograph 10Download photograph 11Download photograph 12Download photograph 13Download photograph 14Download photograph 15Download photograph 16Download photograph 17Download photograph 18Download photograph 19Show all 19 photographsVideo podcast0:00On the northwest corner of 3rd Avenue and East 101st Street is the Church of the Holy Agony.0:09On the side of the church, facing south, on the East 101st Street, is a collection of windows0:16covered by a black metal mesh with little tiny padlocks.0:22Our drawing was made in the space between the two metal-covered windows just to the right of an entrance into the church.0:31The space between these windows contains a three-foot section of brick acting as a column and reaching up to the second story.0:43This is Alfred Gilles Padre Joseph Marchand.0:47He was drawn in July of 2004.0:51His drawing is counting one person.0:53Hold on, did you draw a fireman on this fire department door?0:56Is there a story here? Wow, okay.0:59[unclear] us what we're looking at.1:00We are standing underneath fire department 4th division,1:04engine 53 and ladder 43.1:07They have a symmetrical building that has two large,1:11wooden, red retractable doors for the fire engines to leave.1:16Between those doors is a stretch of brick1:18that houses a bulletin board.1:21The bulletin board has one bulletin,1:25and that is a poster of the 343 faces of the firemen who passed away September 11th.1:32They're the portrait shots.1:34You think there are 343 people on that bulletin board?1:36Yes, there are. They're very small.1:38They're about postage-sized portraits.1:41The same portraits that were printed in the New York Times1:45and the same portraits that we used to do as the catalyst for drawing each of the figures.1:50So that's [unclear] Fireman.1:52You can tell the poster's been out there for a long time.1:54The inks have faded and you're left with that familiar blue ink1:59that seems to survive time better than the rest.2:02I mean, how did you feel coming across this when you were making your drawings?2:07And did you encounter any firemen when you were drawing?2:10Yes, and this location is interesting2:13because our arbitrary hearth lines crossed across several fire departments.2:19And in every case, we entered into the fire department and said,2:22Hi, you know, this is what we're doing,2:24and would you mind if we drew a representation of this specific person in your firehouse?2:31And we never had the irony of actually drawing somebody from a fire station2:36in the right fire station, thank goodness.2:38Like somebody who was from that particular ladder company?2:40Yes, so in this case, the doors are open.2:44I talked to one of the firemen.2:46He went and talked to one of his supervisors.2:48This fire station is also partnered with a police station.2:52Firemen were basically okay with it.2:55They were excited for us to set on to it,2:57but there was also police officers,2:58and they wanted to stop us from moving on.3:02So we ended up with this very, very polarized moment3:06where I was the yes, the firemen were the maybes,3:09and the police officer was the no.3:10and unfortunately the weight of the decision making slipped more towards the law and within3:20the definitions of the law no mark can be put on any wall in manhattan without it being defined as3:24graffiti so it was an act of graffiti and we were told quite firmly that we needed to just move on3:33that's really sad to me that they couldn't see the intent of the project but we need to really3:40emphasize that that is the rarest of moments. We have been busted by3:46undercover cops. We have come across, you know, a dozen police officers. Every3:51fireman has ever come across a security officers. We have been very, very welcome3:58and when we share this story with you, we're sharing with you a moment of4:04decision-making that tilted away from our favor. It's an exception. It's a huge4:08exception to the rule, laden with irony because of the location.4:17There are 343 I counted.4:20Yeah, there's something about looking at those portraits together all at once that's really4:24very overwhelming.4:25And it's amazing, you have drawn all of these 343 people.4:32Alfred G. Marchand had been a flight attendant less than a year when he worked United Airlines4:39At 44, he had just retired from his first career as a police officer.4:45After working his way up to the ranks to lieutenant over 21 years with his hometown police department4:50in New Mexico...← Location 467Heart Four · Location 468Location 469 →
