In 1986 I was evacuated from Pripyat (pronounced “Prypyat” in Ukrainian), Ukraine, following the nuclear power plant catastrophe in Chernobyl.

We were evacuated from Pripyat when I was only one-year-old. My father, an engineer, was working in the plant on the night of the accident. He was then 28-years- old and my mother only 23-years-old.

At the time, the average age of residents in Pripyat - a small town three-kilometers away from Chernobyl, built for the families of those working at the nuclear power plant - was 26-years-old. All of them (almost 50 000) had to leave the town less than two days after the disaster of the 26th of April 1986. The fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant exploded during the systems test, releasing a cloud of highly radioactive emissions into the atmosphere and over an extensive area – still the biggest nuclear disaster in the modern history.

The photo series, included into the book, is picturing people, who, like me, were evacuated back in 1986 from Pripyat and now are returning to the place, which was their home. I portrayed them in their former flats and places of work and study, as well as leisure. A number of self-portraits is also included into the series.

I concentrated my attention not on the horrors of the radioactive contamination and common in Chernobyl-portrayal abandonment of the ghost-town, but on the emotional state of people, who came to visit and remember their homes after 30 years.

The book contains interviews with people, whom I photographed as well as my own essay, dealing with the memories and nostalgia as well as with the thoughts about the loss of my father.

For any requests regarding the book contact Alina Rudya at alinarudya@wherever.me