Chernobyl: poetic decay
Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS - This exhibition was due to open at The Dutch Centre in London.
There’s a really great story behind it, told best by curator Maria Kublin:
In 2019 two Dutch urbex photographers (Anita Spooren and Wigo Worsseling)went to the exclusion zone, accompanied by their guide. They shot some amazing photographs of the ghost town of Pripyat in the Ukrainian oblast Kiev. Back in the day Pripyat was considered a exemplary Soviet town, with its population of 50.000, but was evacuated in a hurry after an explosion in the local nuclear power plant on April 26th, 1986.
The duo visited and explored the so-called 'Exclusion Zone' where they were confronted with the remains of this once thriving town. What they captured are haunted images of places that were left in a rush for safety. An example is the photograph of a room with a red chair, that seems surreal and makes it therefore so powerful.
This exhibition with 20 photographs, was planned to open on March 14th in the Dutch Centre in London. On the opening night we had organised a panel discussion with 3 scientist, with great knowledge of the Chernobyl disaster. One of them is professor Jim Smith, who developed the so-called Atomik Vodka, with water from the area. The exhibition, which was on till May 10th, was cancelled and postponed till further notice.
Instagram: aspooren
Wigo_worsseling
www. anitaspooren.nl
