Nadav Kander was one of the first photographers allowed to go in to Pripyat following the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster of 1986, His work shows the uprooted nature of the evacuation of the city, showing everything which was left in the sudden confusion of a nuclear meltdown.

This project for me perfectly fits the current T+M brief ‘Where did Everybody go’

“I gained access as an artist to visit Pripyat, photographing the deserted spaces in what was once a model Soviet City. 

Home to more than 40,000 people, the apartments, schools and hospitals that were hastily left following the controversial evacuation are stark reminders of past lives, leaving a disturbing sense of quiet. An uneasiness that I had never previously experienced. 

There is a great beauty in a very real way to be found as the poignancy of human suffering almost hangs in the air. I found myself with a familiar feeling; best described as the feeling when walking through an overgrown cemetery on a drizzly day, but what I was looking at was far from familiar. 

Having grown up with stories of relations of mine including my Father with his family that were suddenly evacuated during the second world war, I could not help but feel quite profoundly shocked as well and at the same time wonder what it must have felt like to suddenly leave your home and be transported to an unknown destination, suspecting that the near future would probably bring severe ill health due to being exposed to large doses of radiation. Little is known about the radio-active affects on the people of this city as the population were dispersed all over Russia. If there was a gathering of data by the government, it was never reported. “

Nadav Kander, 2004

https://www.nadavkander.com/works-in-series/chernobyl-half-life/single#8