A documentary project combining photography, text and archives, related to the remains of a closed nuclear training ground in northern Kazakhstan. The training ground operated from 1949-91, during which time more than 400 atomic bombs were detonated here.
Book description:
The photographs were taken at scientific and research institutions associated with the former nuclear training ground in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. The text is derived from excerpts from press clippings and documents related to the training ground. The title, “Last Conversation with Academician Sakharov,” refers to a newspaper article from 1989, in which an American journalist describes his meeting with Andrei Sakharov shortly before the scientist’s death (Sakharov was involved in atomic bomb work in Kazakhstan in the 1950s, and later became an ardent opponent of it). During the existence of the training ground between 1948 and 1989, more than 400 nuclear tests were performed here.
The area was chosen for its sparse population, and a small town was built here, called Semipalatinsk 21 at first. Later, the town was renamed to Kurchatov, after the physicist in charge of the center. The city was closed, and was not marked on maps. Almost nothing remains of the former training ground.
O autorce:
Agnieszka Rayss is a photographer, lecturer, curator. She is also a co-founder of the Sputnik Photos collective. She graduated from art history at Jagiellonian University and teaches at the School of Form at SWPS University. She is interested in topics related to myths, history and its reinterpretation, as well as the post-Soviet heritage of Central and Eastern Europe. Her first works were devoted to pop-cultural manifestations of transformation. She has published photo albums: “From the Notes of a Collector,” ‘The End of Cities Begins Here’ (2015) – about the industrial, disturbing side of urban organisms, and ‘American Dream’ – about cultural transformation and the triumph of pop culture in Central and Eastern Europe.
