The “Peace Tree 9/11” is a gallery of moving art pieces to commemorate the nearly three thousand lives lost on September 11, 2001.

“Peace Tree 9/11 engages its audience in contemplation of peace, solidarity, and social justice, and seeks to transcend the political, ethnic, and sectarian tensions that so often emerge in response to tragedy” says Stony Brook’s calendar page. The work brought together different people of different backgrounds to give their own interpretations of a day that brought utter sadness and confusion.

The display had its ceremonial opening on Wed., Sept. 7 and will remain open to viewers until Thur., Sept. 15 in the Charles B. Wang Center.

Students, faculty and members outside the Stony Brook community are encouraged to visit, and leave their own contribution of peace.

Several memorial candles are dispersed throughout the exhibit. On the far left, pictures of religious and inspirational figures are pieced together in a collage to bring hope for the coming days. Painted pictures with bright blues, yellows and greens were set as a background for the exhibit. Suggesting a bright spot in a moment of despair, the artist portrays an optimistic future.

The far right features an off-white/ beige papier-mâché gate with a figure about to cross into a sacred place, a place of peace. Closer to the center, a woman with a head covering decorated in peace signs looks up at the burning towers in shock.

A single tear streams down her left cheek.

Red, white and blue origami cranes speckle the display, inspiration drawn from Eleanor Coerr’s non-fictional novel, Saduko and the Thousand Paper Cranes.”

The story details the account of a young girl’s fight against Leukemia after the dropping of the  nuclear bomb on Hiroshima  through the Japanese folklore of the healing power of origami cranes.

On this, the tenth anniversary of  9/11, “the wish is for peace – that we live together with compassion, forgiveness and collaboration for a better world.”