Life after Chornobyl
In order to draw public attention to the aftereffects of the Chornobyl disaster and illustrate the current status of the exclusion zone, graduates of National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy have launched a photo exhibit at the academy’s PidWall Gallery, entitled “Chornobyl Today: 20 Years after the Disaster.”
“We know what the situation was right after the explosion. Now we want to see what’s been happening in and around Chornobyl in the past couple of years,” says Olena Hozak, the exhibit’s initiator, adding, “Life around Chornobyl continues.”
The several dozen photographs taken by professional and amateur photographers show how life is being restored in this depopulated area. The photographs were taken during expeditions in 1998-2005, and the closer to the present day the more verdant and lively appear the abandoned homes, towns, and villages.
These photos are spine-chilling: abandoned stadiums, empty boats in a gulf of the Dnipro River, dolls and household dishes left in deserted homes. But nature is coming alive around the ruins. Pictures taken by Oleksandr Naumov, Vladek Tsuman, Olena Hozak, Serhiy Hashchak, and Serhiy Plytkevych show orchards growing and bearing fruit in abandoned villages. Elk, bison, wild boars, deer, and dozens of bird species, ranging from storks and tomtits to white-tailed eagles to marsh harriers, are proliferating.
Life continues, insist the organizers. But those who are alive after this national disaster must not be allowed to forget it. People are remembering. The desire to restore life in this abandoned land and prevent such disasters from reoccurring is pictured in drawings submitted by school children from the art studio Troyeshky.
The exhibit ends on April 15. The organizer says that screenings of Chornobyl-theme films take place every evening. In the second half of April the photos of Ukrainian Chornobyl will travel to Oxford, so that it will be remembered in the world.
