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Chernobyl: Still Life in the Zone
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Chernobyl: Still Life in the Zone
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality: Azerbaijan
Focus:
Photojournalist, Reporter, Documentary, Photography
Skills:
Research, Photojournalism, Film Photography
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Maria Vitosh (86 y.o) at home in Guben village. “My years are my fortune!†- she said. On April 26, 1986 Maria was planting potatoes in the fields when the accident happened. They continued working in the fields even after the word got around. Maria did not want to leave her home: “A pigeon flies close to his nest... Those who left are worse off now… all dying of sadnessâ€. Chernobyl, Ukraine. 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Corn from the orchard and a wine jar on top of the refrigerator in Nadejda Gorbachenko's house. Guben village. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Maria Harlam (82 y.o.) at home for her 82nd birthday. In April 1986 Maria had a tenant who worked in Pripyats. On the day of the accident he informed everyone in the village about it, but people could not understand what kind of “accident†he was talking about. They mostly understood it as some kind of “car accidentâ€. After a couple of days, he did not return back. He was not released from Pripyats along with some others who worked there on liquidation. Maria stayed in the village after the accident: "My place is here†– she said. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Berries hanging on the walls of Maria Harlam's house in Guben village. 25 years after the accident, wild berries are still considered radioactively contaminated and dangerous for consumption. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Nadejda Gorbachenko (80 y.o.) at her cousin's home in Guben village. Nadejda's house is a few meters away from the barbed wire of the exclusion zone. The farm fields where she used to collect potatoes are now behind barbed wire and are no longer in use. She often goes through the hole in the wire into the zone to collect mushrooms and berries for her own consumption. "When I see police, I just hide in the bushes. Nobody will stop me" - she says. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Galina Konyushok butchered a chicken to cook a broth. The food chain has been contaminated with radiation, especially animals that consume local food, such as grain and vegetation from the zone. Zirka village, Chernobyl. Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Matrena Olifer (72 y.o.) lives alone in her house in Gornostaypol village. "Why should I be afraid of radiation? It does not byte!" - she jokes. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Falcon killed by Hanna Zavorotina (78 y.o) and hung up as a trophy. Wild annimals roaming free in the forests and villages of the exclusion zone are often raiding the farms, killing chickens and destroying orchards. Kapavati village. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Hanna Zavorotnya (78 y.o), helped to scrub and gut a pig that was butchered by her visiting son for the New Year holidays. Kapavati village, Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Abandoned house in Kapavati village. Most residents have left since the nuclear accident of 1986 only 4 or 5 homes remain inhabited in the village. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Galina Konyushok, formerly a liquidator of the Chernobyl nuclear accident is now living alone in her home in Zirka village. To keep herself busy, she occasionally knits making traditional folk patterns and images of Jesus Christ on Ukranian cotton fabric. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Galina Konyushok, formerly a liquidator of the Chernobyl nuclear accident is now living alone in her home in Zirka village. To keep herself busy, she occasionally knits making traditional folk patterns and images of Jesus Christ on Ukranian cotton fabric. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Lyubov Konyushok (72 y.o.) at home. She and her husband live alone in their house in Zirka village, their children visit infrequently, once or twice a year. They eat of their garden, keep chickens and sell wallnuts that grow in their orchard. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Abandoned house near the village of Noviye Sokoli. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Funerals in Stariye Sokoli village. Lyubov Koval (84) at the funerals of her son Victor Koval (55 y.o) who died that day of heart failure. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Deer horns haning in the shed. Galina Konyushok's house. Her son hunted the deer in the forests of the zone. Deer and other animals consuming local vegetation are often contaminated with radiation. Zirka village. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Maria Urupa (77 y.o.) on the porch of her house in Parishev village. When the authorities came to evacuate the village in a few days after the accident, Maria's first thought was to hide in the basement with her cow. When she returned back to her village after a few months, all the animals had been slaughtered. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Pig butchered for the New Year holidays in Kapavati village. Chernobyl, Ukraine, December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Tatyana Dyachenko (64 y.o.) at her home in Gornostaypol village. She went to work in Kiev after the accident, but returned back to her village to retire. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
View over the abandoned city of Prypiats. As a result of the nuclear accident and the subsequent radioactive fallout the entire population of Prypiats had been evacuated and never returned home. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Wallpaper in an appartment in the abandoned city of Prypiats. As a result of the nuclear accident and the subsequent radioactive fallout the entire population of Prypiats had been evacuated and never returned home. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Gas masks scattered on the floor of a school lobby in the abandoned city of Prypiats. As a result of the nuclear accident and the subsequent radioactive fallout the entire population of Prypiats had been evacuated and never returned home. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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© 2024 Rena Effendi
Birch tree growing on the second floor of a GYM in the abandoned city of Prypiats. As a result of the nuclear accident and the subsequent radioactive fallout the entire population of Prypiats had been evacuated and never returned home. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010
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