USA-SANDY/STATEN ISLAND-ARTIST Artist creates chairs to mark three-year anniversary of Sandy

Record ID: 136019

  • Title: USA-SANDY/STATEN ISLAND-ARTIST Artist creates chairs to mark three-year anniversary of Sandy
  • Date: 17th October 2015
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 15, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING ON BOARDWALK IN SOUTH BEACH, STATEN ISLAND VARIOUS OF U.S. FLAGS ARTIST SCOTT LOBAIDO BUILDING CHAIR DEDICATED TO HURRICANE SANDY VICTIM, DAVID B. MAXWELL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCOTT LOBAIDO, ARTIST AND STATEN ISLAND RESIDENT, SAYING: "The 'Empty Chairs' represent the 24 victims that we lost
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2015 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACXREITFJMO1UH7ZXME5658QX0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Artist Scott LoBaido takes driftwood off the Staten Island coast to build his "Empty Chairs" installation in advance of the three-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.
    The 24 chairs dot the coastline to honor the 24 people who died in the New York City borough.
    "The 'Empty Chairs' represent the 24 victims that we lost here in Staten Island who will never sit down at a family's table again," LoBaido said. "It's not something I invented. There's been memorials of Empty Chairs like the Oklahoma bombing and I just think it's a spectacular, simple idea and with such meaning, it's very powerful."
    Sandy made landfall on the U.S. East Coast on the night of October 29, 2012, killing 158 people in the United States as surging seawater inundated low-lying areas, mostly in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The 13-foot surge was fueled by the unusual coincidence of a full moon and a high tide at the time of landfall.
    "It's going to be the third anniversary of this devastating hurricane that killed many people but Staten Island lost, I think, more than anybody else as a community," LoBaido said "We are a tight community, everyone knows everyone. It really hits home. I started about eight days ago, all day, every day, just carrying wood around and finding it and putting it together. The ocean took these people, took these poor, innocent people. The driftwood is from the ocean and it has the DNA of the victims, as minute as that sounds, that chair that I'm making is part of their soul, it's part of their physical body."
    Staten Island residents were all moved by LoBaido's efforts in commemorating the tragedy.
    "I think it's a beautiful thing he's doing," Patrice Kawas said. "We have a whole community here that was totally devastated. But the beauty of Staten Island is that we all pull together."
    "It's beautiful, what he's doing," Matthew Cassadine said. "He has a really big heart."
    "I think what he's doing, he's doing it from his heart," Grace said. "I think a lot of people are going to see that. I think it's very special. Every time you walk here now, you're going to see these chairs and you know what they're for."
    "It reminds people that Mother Nature is wicked at times," Joseph Doccola said.
    "When we saw the pictures of the children, right away I got very uptight, almost in tears, you know?" Delores Doccola said. "It's sad. It shouldn't have happened."
    Sandy, though slightly below hurricane strength, had winds that extended over 1,000 miles, causing a storm surge that flooded downtown Manhattan and long stretches of the New Jersey shore, leaving millions in the dark, some for weeks.
    Thousands of houses and cars were damaged or destroyed by the storm, with subway lines and tunnels knocked out of commission for days and even weeks, a power outage that was felt over large areas of the tri-state area.
    Sandy destroyed roadways and dumped boats, fuel oil tanks, chemical drums and other debris across 22 miles, according to the U.S. Interior Department.
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