Nuclear Echo: Chernobyl Tragedy through the Eyes of an American

Pripyat is a ghost town. Photo: Philip Grossman

20 on April at the UN headquarters in New York opened the exhibition of the American documentary filmmaker and photographer Philip Grossman “Chernobyl: tragedy, lessons, hope”. It is dedicated to the 30 anniversary of the day of one of the worst man-made disasters in the history of all mankind.

American in Chernobyl

Philip Grossman has traveled to Chernobyl seven times over the past 5 years and spent a total of 60 days in the exclusion zone. The documentarian shot about 60 hours of video and took more than 20 thousand photographs, some of which are truly unique - panoramic photos in the zone were taken using drones.

American documentary filmmaker and photographer Philip Grossman. Photo: Olga Boyarintseva

Philip Grossman was born and raised in Pennsylvania, near the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, where the most powerful accident in US history occurred in 1979. Before Chernobyl, it was considered the largest in the history of nuclear energy.

Therefore, the future photographer was fascinated by the topic of the consequences of accidents at nuclear power plants since his youth. When the idea of ​​a trip to Chernobyl arose, Grossman took it as an extraordinary, exciting, and dangerous photo-adventure. But this adventure completely changed the life of Grossman, and he spent more than one year to photograph for mankind the evidence of a terrible catastrophe.

Exhibition at the UN

The exhibition was opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, who expressed the hope that it would remind everyone of the common responsibility for the future of our planet.

The exhibition was organized by the Permanent Mission of Belarus to the UN, the charitable organization Project Chernobyl, the Russian-American Foundation and the charitable organization Unite4: good.

Marina Kovaleva, curator of the exhibition and president of the Russian-American Foundation. Photo: Olga Boyarintseva

Marina Kovaleva, curator of the exhibition and president of the Russian-American Foundation, noted that the artistic value and social value of Grossman’s work cannot be overestimated.

The photographer himself, wanting to emphasize the word “hope” in the title of his exhibition, explained: “The main goal of my work in the Chernobyl exclusion zone is not to oppress, but to help us all learn and appreciate the wonderful and fragile world in which we live.”

How it was

26 April 1986 of the year at the fourth unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant an explosion occurred, which led to the destruction of the reactor, a long fire and radiation contamination of the vast territory around the station.

Memorial evacuated villages. Photo: Philip Grossman

Immediately after the explosion, rescuers and firefighters hurried to the scene. In total, thousands of people took part in the aftermath of the accident, from 600 to 800, one hundred thousand of them have already died or become disabled.

The remains of the ship. Photo: Philip Grossman

The territory around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be uninhabitable for at least 20 thousands of years.

The city of Pripyat. Photo: Philip Grossman

About 17 of millions of people suffered from radiation as a result of the accident.

In kindergarten. Photo: Philip Grossman