Search

• History
• Halls
• Exhibition archive
• Events archive
• Conferences archive
• Publications
• Posters Gallery
• Achievements
• Museum theatre

"Chornobyl. Memory embarrasses."

 

The purpose of the exhibition is to remind the terrible events of spring 1986, make think about the possible consequences of risky experiments with the "peaceful atom" and to honor those who with the price of their health and often life saved mankind from inevitable destruction. The relevance of this issue remains unchanged because Chornobyl which forever became a symbol of global ecological catastrophe of the twentieth century still haunts us because problems generated by it are still unresolved.

 

Chornobyl! It is seldom that one word is so meaningful. It's not only a geographical definition of the radiation blast epicenter, but a real national disaster, an endless grief of victims families, physical and spiritual suffering from what they had seen and experienced, a crushing blow to excessive ambitions and illusions of "kings of nature".

 

The consequences of Chornobyl tragedy are really impressive because its victims were more than three and a half million people, half a million of which were children. Some of them were martyred immediately, while others were permanently crippled, disabled, terminally ill. In fact, certain health problems are the issue of anyone who had the misfortune to be born after Chornobyl, becoming unwillingly a representative of "afterchornobyl generation" with corresponding consequences. There is still an unchangeable and a terrible trend of the growing number of thyroid diseases, cancer, allergic reactions, etc.

 

One should not forget about the disastrous consequences that Chernobyl disaster brought for Ukrainian flora and fauna, causing particular irreversible mutation processes. Only in northern Ukraine radiation contaminated over fifty thousand square kilometers of land, so that there was a massive loss of coniferous plants, microorganisms that live in soil, mammals, loss of plants and animals reproductive function, especially in the area of high radiation at a distance of 20 - 30 kilometers Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Not by chance, scientists, experts and representatives of various organizations from around the world are trying to attract attention to unresolved problems of Chornobyl, predicting catastrophic consequences of planetary scale.

 

One should keep in mind that Chornobyl is not only environmental, but also a large-scale economic, social and demographic disaster. After all, more than three hundred and fifty thousand people were evicted from the most affected areas. Many of them lost their jobs and property acquired over the years, many people felt unnecessary. There was also a change in the structure of the affected areas because young people, skilled workers, people with a penchant for entrepreneurship went to other regions, leaving elder ones. Therefore the excess of deaths over births is logical for these areas, which only increases the perception of the region as dangerous for living. It was the time when we first heard such popular today term as a "Depressed region".

 

It is important to realize that Chornobyl is not in the past. It eloquently reminds about itself every day with numerous problems in different spheres of life, in fate of millions of people. Chernobyl disaster encourages vigilance. It makes us think again and again over the fact that scientific progress doesn’t not only make modern life more comfortable, but also requires appropriate security guarantees.

 

This is what the exhibition "Chernobyl. Memory embarrasses" calls us to by the means of fine art.

 

The Painting of Leontii Orlyk "The Guard" (1985) reminds us of the heroic feat of liquidators of the Chornobyl accident. To stop daring atom Kirovohrad region alone sent over 20 thousand people: firefighters, soldiers, doctors, policemen, civil workers of different professions. The hard work, full of danger fell on their shoulders. But none of them showed cowardice and acted as required by the order and circumstances. The ranks of these wonderful people are shrinking inexorably. Many left this life. Others, struggling with illness, continue their difficult service, being a worthy example of conscientious service to people.

 

The painting of Mykola Bondarenko "The tragedy of Chornobyl" (1994) is striking, it vividly illustrates the worst scenario of events because of the control loss over the "peaceful atom", it shows the reverse side of scientific and technical process. This is a warning, a call to be vigilant and avoid the priority of science and technology over the moral perfection of man and the development of consciousness.

 

Chornobyl as an environmental and demographic catastrophe, is also reflected in the work of Volodymyr Plitin "And a star of wormwood fall" (2006). The artist managed to show the terrible consequences of the Chornobyl tragedy not only for the environment but also for people, especially those who stayed on their land, refusing relocation. This work is an eloquent illustration of the depressed region.

 

There is a painting of Volodymyr Chornyi "Faces of Chornobyl" (2008)  from the series "Ukrainian tragedies" among the exhibits. In a small-sized work the artist skillfully captured the scale of the tragedy that gives rise to associations with war - men in overalls, who first went into the battle with the "peaceful atom", the traces of destruction, the transport, which was involved in the accident consequences liquidation and removal of people from the contaminated zone, etc. Association with war is complemented with the overall dark background of the picture. This work has a special symbolic meaning. After all, humanity must ultimately understand that the war with nature, the desire to conquer it, certainly become a "king of nature" are meaningless, doomed to failure, and what is the most terrible, they are leading to large-scale environmental disasters. Only the ability to live in harmony with nature is our salvation.

 

 

 

Oleh Yurchenko, Senior Research associate of

 

Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum