Yesterday I was going trough a pile of business cards that I
had collected trough the last few months in order to use them for inviting
people to my next opening in May 5. Nothing exceptional till I hit a specific
card. It was a card that Tim Hetherington had given me sometime in
October.
I had met him during a
private screening for his movie “Restrepo”. Patricia Duff , the founder and
soul of the “Common Good” had invited him and Sebastian Junger to discuss the
movie that they directed and produced.
It was an animated questions and answers forum with
fascinating questions, a hallmark of the Common Good. It was one of these evening that you will never forget,
sitting in the darkness of a movie hall. You were suddenly projected into the
life of an American platoon in the worlds most dangerous and beautiful
landscape somewhere in Afghanistan in the midst of Taliban land. This documentary
was breathing life and death as if it was your daily environment, urban citizens
of the world.
For over an hour , I thought, I was with them the platoon ,
in Afghanistan , living with them , in defense of democracy, thousand of miles
away .These young , brave American soldiers , with a unique temper and a soul ,
that sometime will make you cry , as you confront with them their mission
somewhere in a place call hell ,the Korengal Valley, also know as "The
Valley of Death.”
So in looking at his card, it reminded the few minutes , we had conversed on Afghanistan and its future. It was so informative. He was a kind and humble man and you could sense , his passion. I assume, he must has been a fun guy to have as a friend. Knowing he was living here in Williamsburg near my own studio, I had intended to sent him an invitation, unfortunately , the horrible news of his death in Libya this week are a reminder that courage of a photo journalist sometimes also ends in a tragic way.
For me this encounter was now another symbol of why in the world there are people like Tim and then the rest of us.
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