On September 11, 2001, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department lost their lives.
More than twenty-five years later, the number 343 remains etched in our collective memory. But behind every number was a person. Someone with a family, friends, dreams, and a life that extended far beyond the events of that terrible day.
Artist Dawn Howkinson Siebel set out to honor those individuals, one portrait at a time.
Remembering the People Behind the Number
In "Better Angels: The Firefighters of 9/11," Siebel brings those lives forward again through an extraordinary collection of portraits and personal stories.
She spent more than 3,000 hours over six years creating individual portraits of the fallen firefighters on burned blocks of wood.
Working in partnership with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, the completed Better Angels exhibition traveled across the United States, including a presentation at the World Financial Center overlooking the World Trade Center site.
Now, those portraits are gathered in a book alongside some of the stories behind the faces.
More Than Firefighters
Among the 343 were legendary chiefs and young probationary firefighters. Fathers whose children had not yet been born. Brothers who entered the fire service together.
They were coaches, musicians, veterans, carpenters, cooks, practical jokers, and marathoners.
Some were off duty and went anyway. Some were preparing to retire. Others were still climbing when the towers came down.
Their stories unfold alongside accounts of September 11, the experiences of survivors, the other first responders who died that day, and the continuing toll of 9/11-related illness.
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Abraham Lincoln famously spoke of the "better angels of our nature."
For Dawn Siebel, these firefighters embodied that ideal: ordinary human beings capable of extraordinary service to others.
Through her artwork and their stories, "Better Angels" offers readers an opportunity to remember these individuals not simply for how they died, but for how they lived.
Three hundred forty-three is a number. "Better Angels" remembers 343 lives.
Discover Better Angels
"Better Angels: The Firefighters of 9/11" by Dawn Howkinson Siebel is available now from Genius Book Publishing.