I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but it’s only in the last few days that it’s really crystalised in my mind. I know what my next photograhy project is going to be; I want to go and photograph the exclusion zone at Chernobyl. Pripyat has one of the most iconic views in the world – in fact to me it is the most iconic landscape. The big wheel at Pripyat is an image that burns into your mind – no other landscape is like it – and that’s why I must go and photograph it. That single image tells the story of thousands of lives, but even more than that, it tells the story of Prometheus stealing the fire of the gods and placing it in the hands of mortals.
Pripyat - Image courtesy of KiddofSpeed
It’s particularly resonant to me because I strongly believe that nuclear power will save mankind from global warming and one day bring about a second renaissance – a time in which we are freed by abundant cheap energy to focus on matters of art and philosophy. It’s incidents like Chernobyl that have resulted in the fear of nuclear power that western culture still holds today, the Chernobyl disaster may yet end the world – not from the initial fallout, but from the lasting impact it has had on our culture. We’re so afraid of nuclear power now that by the time we embrace it as our only solution to the worstening energy crisis, it may be too late and we may have already triggered a run-away greenhouse effect.
Chernobyl is also unique in the fact that it has created a sort of modern-day pompeii – the town of Pripyat has barely seen the hand of man since the day of the disaster. The clocks literally stopped, and everything is preserved as it was. This is almost the polar opposite of my Cuckmere Haven project – the Cuckmere Haven project is about capturing something that may not be there for much longer. The Chernobyl project is about capturing a landscape in which time stands still. That’s where the root of photography is for me – photography is about time – the act of taking a photograph is the act of fixing a moment in time – pinning it down so that it can’t be changed.
When I use the word “fixing”, the defininition I intend is this; to fix something means to make it static, to preserve it as-is. In the days of the chemical darkroom; fixing is the last stage of the process – to expose the film or paper to light before fixing would ruin it, it’s the fixing process that makes the image permanent.
In psychology we talk about “Flashbulb memories” – it’s the idea that when a memory has particular emotional significance, we remember it in much greater detail than we do other things. The classic example in America is that everybody remembers where they were the day they found out JFK had been shot. A more recent example might be that everybody remembers what they were doing at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attack. The idea that a significant emotional event can have a fixing effect on memory is an interesting one – it’s almost like the strength of the emotion causes your brain to take a photograph (I guess that’s why it’s called flashbulb memory).
I see the Chernobyl disaster as one of those key fixing events in modern history; it is a moment fixed in time, and in the memories of many thousands of people, it is a single moment that changed global culture permanently. That’s not all it is; Chernobyl is unique because it’s a ‘fixing event’ that has fixed not only a time in history, but it has also fixed a large area of what is now the Ukraine. Chernobyl is like a photograph that has already been taken, the original image is lost, never to be seen again, but in its place we have this static representation of reality – this enduring symbol of an event that has happened, fixed permanently in time.
KiddofSpeed is a big inspiration – not so much for her pictures, but for her words. For somebody with a fairly weak grasp of the english language; she uses it in highly intelligent and emotional way. Her photos are not the best by a long way, but her narrative is very personal and evocative. It was reading her website several years ago that opened my eyes to the possibility that you could actually visit the exclusion zone without putting yourself at serious risk. With a guide and a Geiger counter it is perfectly safe, and in my opinion well worth any minor risk of growing two heads.
If you’re interested in seeing the best photos of the Prypyat, the two best sources are EnglishRussia.com and Pripyat.com.
Prometheus and the fire of the gods
