As the surrounding towns and cities slept below it, the nuclear power station we know as Chernobyl was going into meltdown. A flawed reactor design coupled with a lack of understanding was bound to lead to disaster sooner or later, but sooner came at 1:23am on the morning of the 26 April 1983. I remember watching the horror unfold on the television, when the rest of the world was allowed to know what was going on that is. My 7 year old brain not quite comprehending what the hell was going on. All I knew was that it was bad and that the poor people who lived near the power station would never be able to go back home.
Now, 33 years later, Chernobyl is slowly becoming accessible again. It is by no means safe, and won’t be for around 20,000 years, but if you’re brave you can spend a short amount of time in the abandoned city of Pripyat. One such soul who dared to enter the still very much radioactive town was P1xels, bringing back to us these amazing images from within the confines of this concrete wilderness.
There’s still 2 days to catch her amazing exhibition Alpha Beta Gamma at 33 Little Lonsdale St Melbourne. Opening hours below.
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