Leonid Toptunov’s Last Day in Pripyat solargraph – Archival quality print, frame not included

Description

View from Leonid Toptunov’s apartment on Sports Street in Pripyat, photographed over a period of one year with a hand-made pinhole camera.

Leonid Toptunov was a senior reactor control engineer who played a key role in the events of 26 April 1986. This photograph taken between 2021 and 2022 shows the exact view Leonid saw when he left his home for the very last time, with the Yubileiny Service Centre on the left, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant barely visible in the distance.

Unexpectedly, the camera recorded the movement of the sun across the sky on the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and during the month-long occupation of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located just three kilometres away.

Each print is produced using a 10-colour archival pigment printing process on heavyweight 300gsm pearlescent photographic paper. For works larger than 13″x19″ please contact me directly.