In a way, what I remember most is that I wasn’t here for it.
25 years ago I was with the Czech photographer Karel Cudlin for our joint exhibit ‘The Seeing-Eye’ in Minsk. I was talking to the vaguely distracted US cultural attache at the opening when an aide whispered something in his ear. The attache politely excused himself and a minute later I looked out the window and saw him sprinting from the building.
Later, after watching the towers fall on a restaurant TV, we went with friends to a call center (this was 2001 Belarus, there was barely internet) to phone my wife in Dakar.
My Belarusian friends told me later they already knew at the opening but didn’t want to spoil it for me. The Czech cultural attache took care of that: ‘Mr Crandall maybe it is good that you are not at home because planes are crashing into buildings’.
I remember how kind and concerned the Belarusians were.
At the time I said now you will see who we are. Which of course ended up being true in both good ways and bad.
Photo by Karel.