Rena Effendi

Photographer

refendi.com

Chernobyl: Still Life in the Zone

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Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Nationality: Azerbaijan

Biography: Rena Effendiâ€™s early work focused on oil industryâ€™s effects on peopleâ€™s lives. As a result, she followed a 1,700 km oil pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, collecting stories along the way. This work was published in 2009... MORE

Maria Vitosh (86 y.o) at home i...ssâ€. Chernobyl, Ukraine. 2010

1 of 23 © 2024 Rena Effendi

Maria Vitosh (86 y.o) at home in Guben village. â€œMy years are my fortune!â€ - 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: â€œA pigeon flies close to his nest... Those who left are worse off nowâ€¦ all dying of sadnessâ€. Chernobyl, Ukraine. 2010

Corn from the orchard and a win...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

2 of 23 © 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

Maria Harlam (82 y.o.) at home ...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

3 of 23 © 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 â€œaccidentâ€ he was talking about. They mostly understood it as some kind of â€œcar 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 hereâ€ â€“ she said. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Berries hanging on the walls of...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

4 of 23 © 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

Nadejda Gorbachenko (80 y.o.) a...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

5 of 23 © 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

Galina Konyushok butchered a ch...ernobyl. Ukraine. December 2010

6 of 23 © 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

Matrena Olifer (72 y.o.) lives ...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

7 of 23 © 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

Falcon killed by Hanna Zavoroti...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

8 of 23 © 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

Hanna Zavorotnya (78 y.o), help...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

9 of 23 © 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

Abandoned house in Kapavati vil...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

10 of 23 © 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

Galina Konyushok, formerly a li...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

11 of 23 © 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

Galina Konyushok, formerly a li...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

12 of 23 © 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

Lyubov Konyushok (72 y.o.) at h...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

13 of 23 © 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

Abandoned house near the villag...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

14 of 23 © 2024 Rena Effendi

Abandoned house near the village of Noviye Sokoli. Chernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Funerals in Stariye Sokoli vill...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

15 of 23 © 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

Deer horns haning in the shed. ...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

16 of 23 © 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

Maria Urupa (77 y.o.) on the po...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

17 of 23 © 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

Pig butchered for the New Year ...ernobyl, Ukraine, December 2010

18 of 23 © 2024 Rena Effendi

Pig butchered for the New Year holidays in Kapavati village. Chernobyl, Ukraine, December 2010

Tatyana Dyachenko (64 y.o.) at ...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

19 of 23 © 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

View over the abandoned city of...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

20 of 23 © 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

Wallpaper in an appartment in t...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

21 of 23 © 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

Gas masks scattered on the floo...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

22 of 23 © 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

Birch tree growing on the secon...ernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

23 of 23 © 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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Thumbnail of Maria Vitosh (86 y.o) at home in_essâ€. Chernobyl, Ukraine. 2010

Thumbnail of Corn from the orchard and a wine_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Maria Harlam (82 y.o.) at home f_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Berries hanging on the walls of _hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Nadejda Gorbachenko (80 y.o.) at_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Galina Konyushok butchered a chi_hernobyl. Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Matrena Olifer (72 y.o.) lives a_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Falcon killed by Hanna Zavorotin_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Hanna Zavorotnya (78 y.o), helpe_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Abandoned house in Kapavati vill_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Galina Konyushok, formerly a liq_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Galina Konyushok, formerly a liq_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Lyubov Konyushok (72 y.o.) at ho_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Abandoned house near the village_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Funerals in Stariye Sokoli villa_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Deer horns haning in the shed. G_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Maria Urupa (77 y.o.) on the por_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Pig butchered for the New Year h_hernobyl, Ukraine, December 2010

Thumbnail of Tatyana Dyachenko (64 y.o.) at h_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of View over the abandoned city of _hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Wallpaper in an appartment in th_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Gas masks scattered on the floor_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Thumbnail of Birch tree growing on the second_hernobyl, Ukraine. December 2010

Public Story

Chernobyl: Still Life in the Zone

Copyright Rena Effendi 2024

Date of Work Dec 2010 - Dec 2010

Updated May 2018

Topics Documentary, Photography, Photojournalism

The first signs of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 26, 1986 were detected in Sweden two days later, after a cloud of radioactive fallout from the explosion was spread over large parts of Western Europe. Following an international investigation, the Soviet Union was forced to officially recognize the accident of catastrophic proportions. Twenty-five years since the disaster, access to the area around Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor is still restricted with barbed wire and police checkpoints. About 230 people inhabit the area of about 1000 square miles, now named the Zone of Alienation. Inside the Zone, as well as in some sparsely populated villages adjacent to it, the inhabitants are mostly elderly women. They survived Holodomor (Stalin imposed famine of Ukraine), Nazi occupation and just days after the worst nuclear accident in the world's history, they chose to return home. The women live alone, on meager pensions, sustaining on their small orchards, harvesting radioactive food, burning contaminated logs and sneaking into the forests of the Zone to collect mushrooms and berries that are known to absorb radiation. In spite of inherent dangers of the contaminated food chain, these extraordinary women have outlived their husbands and even their children. No matter how damaged the land is and how harsh the experience, they still call it and make it home.

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