Ana Juan cover

In her New Yorker cover illustration, Ana Juan implies that the events of 9/11 may have destroyed the towers and taken lives, but their memories continue to live on. Juan does this through a simple illustration- the New York skyline at the top, with the now missing towers reflected in the water. Her purpose is to create an image that will speak to people in order to commemorate the tragedy of 9/11. The illustrator creates a somber mood with her cover, beckoning the readers to open the pages of the magazine and remember the event that forever changed our country.

2. I was only three years old when 9/11 happened. I don't remember anything about that day. I probably didn't think twice about the fact that my mother picked me up from school early, or that she remained glued to the television, waiting for more news as she was forced to confront the unthinkable. The New York I know is the one at the top of the illustration, above the water. Juan's cover is simple, yet effective. She helps someone like me visualize what was once there- two towers that people walked by every day and likely paid little attention to. How crazy that they now represent a post-9/11 world in which we no longer feel the same sense of security. A more subtle statement is the fact that, in the cover, New York is still up and running. The lights are on, the city is intact. It serves as a reminder of how successfully, although slowly, we have recovered from something that shook up our world so intensely.