Tchernobylsty
2001
They lived around Chernobyl. Many worked for the nuclear power station, a symbol of the Soviet people's "mastery of the machine". A town was even built for them: Pripiat- 48 000 inhabitants - 4 kilometres from the Ukrainian power station.
April 26, 1986, the day of the explosion. Pripiat was evacuated within hours. Told to abandon everything, as it had become radioactive, most people, like thieves, smuggled out small items of sentimental value: an old photograph, jewellery, an alarm clock.
15 years later, Chernobyl is definitely closed and most of its habitants now live on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Living amongst themselves as if in a ghetto, the "Chernobylstys" are united by the remembrance of the misery and the loss of loved ones.
© Guillaume Herbaut, l’Œil Public