n Tuesday, a performance artist raised eyebrows and nauseated some after he repeatedly jumped from a museum roof, in an attempt to recreate scenes from the World Trade Center attacks, where victims threw themselves from top floors in desperate attempts to avoid incineration.

The photographs will later be retouched to erase the pulleys and wires attached to his back.

The inspiration for the photographs came after Skarbakka says he started thinking about falling as he watched footage of workers plunging to their death from the towers.

"Mentally, physically and emotionally, from day to day, we fall. Even walking is falling: You take a step, fall and catch yourself," he said.

Skarbakka lives in New York and was named an outstanding young photographer by ArtReview magazine.

The photo shoot attracted a crowd, with vastly differing opinions. Some praised it as a fabulous form of expression, others argued the jump was too staged to have any significant meaning.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg condemned the shoot as "nauseatingly offensive," while Rosemarie Giallombardo, whose son was killed in the terrorist attacks, told the New York Daily News, that if Skarbakka wanted to express himself artistically, he should go paint a bowl of fruit.