..+ location Memorial Boulevard
..+.coordinator Jennifer Robinson
..+ .date September 11, 2002

.....Hand-painted by Rhode Island children, teens, and adults in memory of the September 11th Terrorist attacks, over 8,000 individual tiles were placed together in two seven and a half feet tall, two feet wide sections comprising the walls of a tunnel near Waterplace park. Another section of the wall lines the Providence Journal Company garage on Sabin Street. The tunnel is a passageway that signifies the collective journey from despair to hope and love. During the months following the tragedy, Project Hope, the creation and gathering of the tiles, was established to provide a means of therapy through the process of expression. The wall was unveiled on the first anniversary of the attacks, and more of the tiles were placed in the Convention Center and downtown. The memorial plaque at the Wall of Hope states that “Although the memory of loved ones lost will remain, we will not be conquered by fear.”
.....The wall was coordinated by Jennifer Robinson and organized by the Providence chapter of the The National Conference for Community and Justice with the intention that the tiles would be created by participants from all thirty-nine of Rhode Island’s cities and towns. The project provided glazes made of finely crushed glass tiles that turn bright and glossy when fired in a kiln. The instructions for each participant were to paint his or her own visions of hope for the future. In order to avoid a wall of American flags and eagles, Robinson asked that people use more creative designs instead of traditional patriotic signs and symbols. Rhode Islanders of all backgrounds painted tiles with words and images including sunsets, clouds, trees, and the World Trade Center in heaven.
.....The cost of creating a tile was ten dollars, used to fund the project as well as other projects that were created in response to 9-11. The wall is a powerful piece of community art that memorializes lost lives and a community’s response to an event that changed America. The tunnel itself embraces a powerful space, enhanced by the view from within of Waterplace Park and the dome of the Rhode Island State House beyond.
.....By 2005, the Wall of Hope will be moved to the Heritage Harbor Museum, where it will remain as a constant testimony to the courage, love, and American unity aroused by the day of September 11, 2001.