Dalton M. Ghetti was deeply affected by the events on September 11, 2001. He decided to create a memorial to honor the victims of the attack by carving one teardrop every day for each of the victims. Individual teardrops were carved from the graphite of recycled pencils found on streets and sidewalks.
Using only his hands, naked eyes and a razor blade, he created one teardrop in little less than one hour. The teardrops are about the size of a grain of rice. Combined, they make one large, two-dimensional dark teardrop against a white background.
Averaging 300 teardrops per year, it took him 10 years to complete the 3,000 teardrops necessary for this memorial.
The memorial is at
New Britain Museum of American Art
New Britain, Connecticut, USA
Prints of the memorial are available for sale with part of the proceeds going to a 9/11 fund.