An 8-meter sculpture fashioned from girders reclaimed from the World Trade Centre site, titled “After 9/11”is to find a new home in the Olympic Park in Stratford. It was created by the American artist Miya Ando to honour the 3,000 people, including 67 Britons, killed in the 9/11 attacks on the United States. It was originally on display in Battersea Park but moved after a month, with attempts to find a new location for the work failing.
London’s mayor Boris Johnson said it would be now be found a permanent home. Lord West, a champion of the sculpture stated that it had been stored in a Cambridgeshire farmyard since it was taken from Battersea Park. He said the girders were “sacred objects” in the US and only six pieces had been sent around the world.
The Mayor unveiled the sculpture in September 2011 stated; “I think [the Americans] would be pretty shocked,” he said. “It’s pretty pathetic, that no one in this great city of ours has been willing to say we want it to have it here.” Lord West blamed bureaucratic “back-biting” for the failure to find a permanent home for the sculpture in London after it was initially unveiled in September 2011 – 10 years on from the attacks.