David McMillan

Canadian (born in Scotland), b. 1945

Nursery School, Pripyat, April, 1995, from the series Chernobyl, 1995

colour print on paper

40.7 x 50.8 cm Image: 37.8 x 46.8 cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Acquired with funds from the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Naylor and with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance program/Oeuvre achetée avec l'aide du programme d'aide aux acquisitions du Conseil des Arts du Canada

G-97-182

Categories:

Photograph, Photography

In the fall of 1994 David McMillan began a project that, to this day, has consumed a significant part of his artistic investigations. He has travelled to the Ukraine on several occasions since 1994 to document the landscape, buildings, and other sites in the 30-kilometre contaminated zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This image was taken on his second visit and marks this life-altering tragedy which took place in 1986. Pripyat was home to most of the employees of the nuclear power plant. The population of 45,000 wasn’t evacuated until 36 hours after the accident. Because of a lack of information, thousands of adults and children were needlessly exposed to high doses of radiation.