Project Concept
How long does an explosion last? Is it over when the final storm from the pressure wave has died down, or when the subsequent fire has been extinguished, or when the media no longer report on destruction - or does the explosion continue until the final remnants of human suffering are forgotten and genetic mutations have ceased?
We live under constant threat and fear of catastrophes caused by people. Therefore it is important to create and share knowledge about such events by educating and informing people about the reasons and consequences of the catastrophes. On April 26, 1986 the accident in Chernobyl has changed in one second the foundation of everyday life for many people both in the East and West. It is essential that we learn about the far-reaching con-sequences of the accident from the people, whose lives have been altered in the ruins of the 4th reactor.
The Danish photo-journalist Mads Eskesen has travelled in the affected areas for several years interviewing people and taking photos of them in daily life. The result is an extensive journalistic material that serves as a background for telling a story of 20 people who were affected by the catastrophe 20 years ago.
The story of the Chernobyl disaster is so multifaceted that it could be difficult for an ordinary audience to understand the accident without a certain degree of technical knowledge. The Chernobyl explosion combines elements of different aspects of life: high technology, politics, medicine, natural sciences, sociology, anthropology, etc.
The project does not give an answer to whether nuclear energy is good or bad. It is about 20 people, their lives and the way they dealt with their unique experiences afterwards. They all live in very different cultures, come from different layers of the society, and are not acquainted with each other. Each of them tells a story about how Chernobyl affected them and their reaction to it. It is irrelevant what they think of nuclear energy or energy supply politics of their countries - if they do have such a meaning at all. The essence of the project is to render how different people came to revise their lives because of the accident in 1986.
The project aspires to tell about this tremendous catastrophe and its many consequences to a broad audience. By telling the human life stories, we hope to make it easier for the public to relate itself to and form its own opinion as to one of the greatest catastrophes of the world, the consequences and costs of which are still difficult to comprehend even after 20 years. By engaging the audience the goal is that more people will form an opinion about one of most destructive technologies mankind have invented.
