There are no humans left in the heart of the greatest nuclear disaster in history. Nature thrives on the ruins of Pripyat – a city abandoned as a result of human arrogance. Quietly, the last of the self-settlers are passing away, leaving their homes empty forever.

For many years I have been exploring and documenting Chernobyl, yet trips to the closed zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant have always left me with a sense of incompleteness. During these short visits, one can only capture fleeting glimpses of a bygone era, live out a post-apocalyptic adventure before returning to everyday life.

Meanwhile, in the heart of the greatest nuclear disaster in history, the sun rises every morning, and in the abandoned city of Pripyat once home to 50,000 people, and wldlife is reborn among the ruins of arrogance and dreams of power.

Solarigraphy finally allowed me to leave a part of myself in the Zone for longer and to see it from the perspective of the trees absorbing the crumbling buildings. Using pinhole cameras I built myself, I was able to capture time beyond our perception of reality.

Some of my photographs were lost forever. Some cameras attracted the attention of the Chernobyl police or enthusiasts of the Zone who explore every hidden corner. Most of the cameras placed before the outbreak of war were destroyed by sappers clearing the area around the plant after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Thankfully, a few cameras survived this incredibly difficult time for Ukraine. The resulting photographs are a unique record of the sun’s path across the sky on February 24, 2022—the day Russian troops entered the Exclusion Zone from Belarus and began their weeks-long occupation of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. I recovered the images from that period thanks to humanitarian aid trips to the Chernobyl area and with the help of friends connected to the Exclusion Zone, to whom I extend my heartfelt thanks for their support.

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