This book has been spoken of for a long time. This photo album was deemed ominous and expressive. There was an impression that the album would contain a lot of extreme and absurdity. Some photos were presented at several exhibitions in Minsk during the year. Now it is clear, that this album expresses more life and holds more truth to it and yet it is more radical and shocking than any fiction.

This effect is achieved, for the most part, due to the historical impact of the event – the biggest and unprecedented anthropogenic catastrophe of the 20 century. The authors also expressed the human feelings in the right way – pain, misunderstanding and sorrow, people’s indifference and their desire for life – there are wounds that man can heal and there are consequences that nature must overcome. 

The book  consists of 4 parts: Nature. People. History. Man. It has 259 pictures. The authors are easily recognized by their style: magnificent, beautiful nature is by Igor Byhnev;  vacant child faces with bands and carnival masks – by Anatoli Kleshtshuk. The majority of photos were taken by Denis Romanuk. These photos show not only the Chernobyl zone nowadays, but also the native costumes, architecture fragments and the decoration of country houses. Commentaries to the pictures express not less than the pictures themselves. Thus the photo album turns into the requiem: all picturesque landscapes are polluted by cesium-137, background radiation exceeds the norm 100 times and the flowering gardens are situated 30-50 km from Chernobyl.

For several years STIEPF JSC has supported artists. And  the present photo album is no exception