Bill Crandall

In the beginning of this book, published in 2012 after several visits spread over almost ten years, I tried to distill Belarus’ seeming paralysis into a matter of identity crisis:

“Twenty years after the pivotal events of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the subsequent end of the USSR, Belarus is still searching for its post-Soviet national identity.

Despite fast rivers of change just over the horizon in all directions, the prevailing feeling in Minsk is one of waiting. Not anticipation, revolution is distinctly not in the air. A kind of resignation that change will not be swift and transformative, but could take awhile, perhaps generations.

But Belarusians are stoic people, they know how to wait.”

That was then.

After what seemed like endless post-Soviet stasis and isolation, Belarus finally experienced the moment that I thought wouldn’t happen in my lifetime. The ‘color revolution’ - red and white, the colors of the pre-Soviet Belarusian flag - that seemed highly unlikely, even as countries around Belarus experienced their own. No longer were Belarusians reserved, quietly stoic, waiting for change. They were demanding it.

In the summer of 2020, Belarusians came together like never before to demand that opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya be recognized as the winner of that year’s presidential election. For many months, weekly demonstrations attracted hundreds of thousands in cities and towns across the country, despite the threat of extreme violence from the government. The demonstrations were peaceful and determined. And yes, stoic, as Belarusians famously are, with their modern history of war, loss, Sovietization, and dictatorship. Their moment arrived and they stepped bravely from ‘the waiting room’ to the streets, an inspiring model of courage, integrity, and grace under duress.

Since then, however, Belarus’ government greatly increased its repressive measures against dissent, which diminished and ultimately eliminated the protests. Many Belarusians have fled the country. The early euphoria and optimism for change has given way to a climate of fear. The government, which had seemed on its heels, is now winning.

Please get to know Belarus and Belarusians, who for so long have been ignored, an invisible entity in the heart of Europe. They want to know that we see them.

*****

"[An] American master" - Sergey Moskalev, Voice of America

"Magnificent" - Joyce Barnathan, President, International Center for Journalists

"Strong recommend. It's a book about people, not politics." - Kathy Ryan, Chernobyl Children's Project International

"Belarus, a post-Soviet country “squeezed between Europe and Russia”. The most common association is probably Chernobyl and current political regime referred to as “the last dictatorship in Europe”. No surprise that those few photographers who get to that part of Europe focus on one of those issues. Bill Crandall did something very different. He came to Belarus to document everyday life and he spent one decade visiting the country: observing, learning, reflecting. [S]ome images are just surreal, others are very intimate, many are captivating but all of them create beautiful and intriguing narratives […]." - phot(o)lia

"The fact that no one has photographed my country the way Crandall does becomes clear from looking at just a few of his photos. Crandall does not photograph ideology. Neither does he photograph anti-ideology. He is interested in the human dimension." - Victor Martinovich, author (from the introduction)