Coming of Age in the Shadow of Chernobyl

3 minute read

Thirty years after reactor four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown, releasing massive amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, one small town, called Slavutych, carved out of a forest about 25 miles from the plant, seems to be thriving.

“I saw around 2010 some news about a project to build a city from scratch in the south of Ukraine. It sounded like a failure in the making,” Niels Ackermann, this year’s recipient of the Ville de Perpignan Rémi Ochlik Award, tells TIME.

Since 2012, Ackermann has documented the life of Yulia: a teenager coming of age in Slavutych—from flirts and wild parties, drinks and short relationships to a married life with a job and responsibilities. “Through her life and the life of her friends, I could document intimately this process we all go trough,” Ackermann says. But Yulia’s transition to adulthood is different as one of her responsibilities includes working to build a future in the face of a strenuous past. While many of her compatriots studied programming, economics or journalism, most end up working at Chernobyl, either on the construction of a gigantic arch that will seal the exploded reactor or in the disassembly of the reactor in itself.

Ackermann’s photographs reveal human moments—from weekend escapades to wedding parties. “Yulia’s life was a fast-forward view of youth,” he says. “In three years, I saw her going through multiple short term relationships in the beginning, then she met Zhenya, they moved together, they married, they divorced, and now she’s looking for the right one a bit like in the beginning.”

Ackermann wanted to steer clear from the sensational and bring nuance to his work. “We tend to create a biased perception of the country and its potential,” he says. “To some extents it’s nearly a neocolonial approach to present everything that happens in the so-called third world in terms of wars and failures. We forget that most of the time, life just goes on.”

Niels Ackermann is a photographer based in Kiev, Ukraine and a member of Lundi13 photo agency. He will be awarded 8,000 Euros at Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignan, where his work will also be exhibited. The L’Ange Blanc book is available through Les Editions Noir sur Blanc. This project was made possible thanks to the Globetrotter World Photo.

Rachel Lowry is a writer and contributor for TIME LightBox. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Zhenya (Evgeny) and Yulia kiss in front of their datcha during their wedding celebration with their friends, on June 22, 2013 in Slavutych, Ukraine.
Zhenya (Evgeny) and Yulia kiss in front of their datcha during their wedding celebration with their friends, on June 22, 2013 in Slavutych, Ukraine. Niels Ackermann—Lundi13
Kiril, Vladik, one of his friend and Ruslan are lighting a cigarette before going out in a village to buy some more vodka.
Kiril, Vladik, one of his friend and Ruslan are lighting a cigarette before going out in a village to buy some more vodka.Niels Ackermann—Lundi13
Teenagers of Chernobyl grew up.
Yulia puts on her wedding dress in her room, on June 19 2013 in Slavutych, Ukraine. Niels Ackermann—Lundi13
Slavutych is surrounded with a dense pine forest. When the architects in charge of the project picked the location to build Slavutych, they selected this place in the middle of a forest because the end of a railway line made transportation of construction material easier. February 14, 2012.
Slavutych is surrounded with a dense pine forest. When the architects in charge of the project picked the location to build Slavutych, they selected this place in the middle of a forest because the end of a railway line made transportation of construction material easier. February 14, 2012. Niels Ackermann—Lundi13
Zhenya, Yulia and Fiodor on their way back to slavutych after a picnic at the dnieper on Sept. 2, 2012 in Slavutych, Ukraine.
Zhenya, Yulia and Fiodor on their way back to slavutych after a picnic at the dnieper on Sept. 2, 2012 in Slavutych, Ukraine. Niels Ackermann—Lundi13

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