Chernobyl 25 Years Later

April 26, 2011 marked the 25th anniversary of the explosion of the number four reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power facility in what is modern-day Ukraine. It was the largest civil nuclear disaster in history and led to many problems including long-term health concerns and agricultural and economic distress. The 19-mile radius around the site, which forms the “exclusion zone” established where radiation contamination makes continued habitation dangerous leaving a wake of ghost towns such as Pripyat and Lomysh. Although many different photographs were collected for the anniversary, two photographers in particular have made extensive studies of the aftermath. Diana Markosian documented the lives of two pensioners who continued to live in the abandoned town of Redkovka, Ukraine and Michael Forster Rothbart has produced an extensive record of life near Chernobyl.