In the piece My America I am reflecting on my experience as a 9/11 family member and personal loss in the public eye.

September the 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on USA have not only changed the world, but also closely affected my family when my Father was killed in the World Trade Center on that day. The American history that followed, unwillingly but profoundly, became a backdrop to our lives. In the name of 9/11 families the wars were started, laws violated, human rights curbed and nationalism fuelled.

For 9/11 family members it is not possible to escape public political and social backdrop to our stories of personal loss. On the twentieth anniversary of my father’s killing I am reflecting on this with a dreading feeling of no resolve, regardless of how much I want to put this to rest.

There are many unanswered questions about the events that happed on that day, and two decades later, the promise of justice had not been fulfilled- no single person had been brought to trial for the crimes committed on Tuesday morning 20 years ago.

My Father immigrated from Ukraine to the land of opportunity in the 1990th when Ukraine was in chaos after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to better life for his family. I had joined him a year before the attacks and lived in America till 2003 when I received 9/11 British Council Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, where I found my new home.

Running time 15 min. It is advised to use headphones for better experience.

*** Production and Performance- Iryna Muha,

music – Iryna Muha, Dmitry Fedotov

Photography- Elena Pavlova-Muha

Camera- Brett Turner