Karen Simon created the image "Rise Above" to help ease the pervasive feelings of hopelessness and fear in NYC in the days following 9/11/01. She distributed posters to local businesses to help lift the spirits in her neighborhood of the West Village. People contacted her to tell her that the image gave them hope. In an effort to inspire mass good-will, she enlisted the help of outdoor media companies who donated space for two billboards at the Lincoln Tunnel and at the Midtown Tunnel. Hundreds of thousands of people saw the image over an eight-month span. This image is part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History,  The Library of Congress and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. In 2011, the billboard was posted one-half mile outside the Queens entrance to the Midtown Tunnel to honor and remember the lives lost and the lives lived.