Twenty-five years after witnessing the fall of the Twin Towers first-hand, Sydney photographer and founder of The Photo Studio Australia, North Sullivan, is set to reveal a profound, previously unexhibited body of work documenting the immediate aftermath of September 11.
Titled When The Dust Settled, the exhibition brings together 186 black-and-white street photographs captured across the week following the attacks. While global broadcast media remained fixated on the smoking ruins of Ground Zero, Sullivan turned his lens toward the human reality unfolding on the surrounding streets – capturing the quiet shock, grief, and resilience of everyday New Yorkers.
The visual narrative opens on the evening of 10 September 2001, featuring a poignant frame of two NYPD officers standing on a rooftop with the intact skyline behind them. The sequence then chronicles a city brought to a standstill: walls blanketed in missing persons posters, impromptu memorials, hollowed-out avenues, and the gradual return of street life as Downtown reopened and the New York Stock Exchange resumed trading.
“I wasn’t interested in photographing the spectacle. I wanted to photograph the people who were left behind and what happened to a city after the cameras moved on,” says Sullivan. “These photographs are about that week – the uncertainty, the sadness, the kindness and the extraordinary resilience of ordinary people.”
Before founding The Photo Studio Australia, Sullivan established himself as a commercial and advertising photographer, shooting major projects including the iconic Qantas Children’s Choir campaign across the globe and the official Olympic Torch Relay billboards. His work has previously been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, the Art Gallery of NSW, and the Powerhouse Museum.
When The Dust Settled runs from 3 September to 2 November 2026 at The Photo Studio in Glebe, Sydney.
Entry is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
