Guillaume Herbaut

Slaviutich, Ukraine, “Chernobyl: 20 Years After”

Guillaume Herbaut (b.1970) is a founding member of l’Oeil Public photo agency in Paris. His work on Chernobyl won the Kodak Critics Prize in 2001 and was published at Le Petit Camarguais in October 2003, also winning the Fuji Book Prize the following year. “After Oswiecim”, a documentary work on Auschwitz today was exhibited at Trans Photographiques festival in 2005. He was also awarded a grant from the French Ministry of Culture and has shown at Visa pour l’Image.  His photographs were also  exhibited at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph was taken in Slaviutich, about 50 kilometers  from Chernobyl. This city was been built after the Chernobyl explosion for workers of the plant who were left without homes. The Soviet government planned to make it an ideal city, however, after it was built, the surrounding  forest was radioactive. The children wearing masks are in School n°4 in Slaviutich, during an emergency training in case of a nuclear explosion. I’ve returned to Chernobyl numerous times since 2001 and am haunted by the place.”