To convey the invisible, to feel the destructive impact, to comprehend the tragedy that you heard about as a child only from the news is one of the long-term themes that South Korean photographer Jung Sungtae is working on. In his works, he visualizes the invisible manifestations of the Chornobyl disaster through portraits of people. Invisible to society and to each other, the self-settlers continue to live in the exclusion zone they were forced to leave and eventually returned to. Zaborona publishes Jung Sungtae’s photographs and tells the stories that the photographer has documented.
Jung says the following about his project: “In April 1986, there was an explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Since the accident, invisible ghosts have ruled the land here in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. One of them is the radiation that consumes the space, and the other is the hearts of those who call this space home. They have faith that their home will return, and they feel sad that they have been abandoned and become ‘ghosts’.”
Halyna Yavchenko. At the time of the shooting, she was 83 years old. She lives alone in the village of Paryshiv, 7 kilometers from Chornobyl. Before the Chernobyl accident, she worked as a cook’s assistant. She has two sons. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Olha Zahorna. Olha was 86 years old at the time of the photo shoot. Like many other residents of the exclusion zone, she was relocated from the dangerous region. However, she returned to her native village of Opachychi, which is officially considered uninhabited. Until 1986, she worked at a collective farm. She has two children, but lives alone. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Ivan Semeniuk, a former sawmill worker. He was 84 years old at the time of the shooting. He lives in the village of Paryshiv, which belongs to the non-residential exclusion zone. He has two sons. Until 2018, he lived with his now deceased wife Mariya. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Mariya Shavkuti. At the time of the shooting, she was 88 years old. Here is what the photographer says about her: “She was evicted from her native Opachychi after the Chornobyl disaster, but she returned to the village, even though she took risks. We met with her three times and I heard many stories. In the fall of 2021, I came to see Mariya, but I was unable to see her — she passed away. When she was alive, she told me that her family had two daughters.” 2019. Photo: Sungtae Jung Ivan Ilchenko. He died in 2018 at the age of 82. Before the Chornobyl disaster, he was a tractor driver. After the resettlement, he returned to the village of Kupovate. In the photo he holds a book by Taras Shevchenko. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Maria Urupa. At the time of the shooting, she was 84 years old. Before the accident, she worked at a collective farm. After the eviction, she returned to her native village of Paryshiv. She has a son. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung Olha Kovach. At the time of the shooting, she was 73 years old. She lives in the village of Opachychi, where she returned after the Chernobyl accident. She used to work in a collective farm. She has two children. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Halyna Yukhymenko. Daughter of 80-year-old Chornobyl native Tetiana Rayenok. After the disaster, she and her mother settled in the village of Teremtsi. 2015. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Hanna Chala. At the time of the shooting, she was 79 years old. She lives in a house at the foot of a hill in her native uninhabited village of Teremtsi. Before the Chornobyl accident, she worked on a collective farm. 2016. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Mykhailo Shylan, 88 years old. Before the accident, he worked as a music teacher in Chornobyl, where he voluntarily returned after the resettlement. He has three children. 2017. Photo: Sungtae Jung
Maria Ilchenko, formerly a laborer. She was 74 years old at the time of the photo shoot. She lives in the village of Kupovate, which belongs to the exclusion zone. She has two sons. 2021. Photo: Sungtae Jung Yevhen Markevych. At the time of the shooting, he was 78 years old. Before the Chornobyl accident, he worked as a geography teacher and has two children. 2019. Photo: Sungtae Jung
