About — Chornobyl: The Weight of the Air

V. Arden Shepard is a photographer, filmmaker, and writer living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

v.arden.shep@gmail.com

Born in Omaha, Nebraska V. has been devoted to textual and visual storytelling from a young age. They studied theatre and French at the University of Nebraska - Omaha, then moved to Burgundy to teach. Following her stint in France she moved to Clemson, SC to obtain a Masters in English Literature and Playwriting. Her plays have been workshopped at the WordBRIDGE Playwright’s Lab and the Last Frontier Theatre Conference as well as having been performed in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival .

SPACE TRAVEL!

Why did I go to Chornobyl?

I wanted to hear the silence.

When I was a child I watched a documentary titled Chernobyl: The Bitter Taste of Wormwood. For the first time in my life I realized that humanity’s actions could damage the Earth far beyond our ability to repair it. Before I could comprehend climate change or world war I knew that we could to terrible harm.

By accident.

I wanted to see how the world would look after humanity was forced to flee from its own mistakes. I wanted to feel the weight of the air on that ground.

It seems trite to call such an experience 'profound' or 'spiritual' or 'terrifying' but, truly, those are the closest approximations I have to what I felt.

Chornobyl is a place of incredible beauty - possibly the the most beautiful place I’ve ever visited. It also a wound slowly healing, and no one now living will ever see it whole.

Special Thanks

This ongoing project could not have happened without my friends, family and peers. My partner, Ziva, has provided love and support throughout all of this, and I am immensely grateful.

None of the pictures you see here could have been possible without the care and assistance of my guide, Alina Smal. Her knowledge of the Zone as well as her patience and diligence helped me navigate the challenges the Zone presents to a photographer. She was capable and attentive, and her efforts were directly responsible for the success of this project.

Finally, I had the opportunity to interview one of the self-settlers who returned to Chornobyl after the liquidation. The woman at right, Valentina, told me about her life in the zone before, during, and after the accident over homemade sausages and vodka.

During the liquidation she served as a street cleaner, spraying down the pavement and scrubbing contamination. She was one of the people under the masks made famous by the poster image for HBO’s miniseries.

Afterward she and her husband returned to Chornobyl and fixed up a house and live out their final years in the place the called home. He died, and now she lives with her dog as her daily companion.

At 87 she has lived through the aftermath of the Holodomor genocide, the Nazi occupation, Stalin’s rule, the Chornobyl accident, and the fall of the Soviet Union. She is a tough, old woman, and the labor and sacrifices made by her and the rest of the liquidators allowed me to set foot upon that ground.