*By Laura Hill
In 2009 I was approached by a Ukrainian magazine EGO for a feature interview. It’s a men’s magazine which was trying at the time to elevate its cultural level.
Have you ever considered developing a photo essay in Ukraine and in Chernobyl in particular?- was one of the interview questions. Although I was familiar with Chernobyl, and it appealed to my work on abandoned places, I had never considered it. I thought it was already too covered, and the images that came to mind were those of the accident and children with mutations. But I said: “If somebody were to help sponsor my time there and help me with logistics, I would go”.

Few days later they helped me to organize a trip. I was already planning to visit Russia and Central Asia for another project, and visiting Ukraine 25 years later after the nuclear disaster, folded nicely into my plans. During my first interviews I learned that there is a general social fatigue concerning Chernobyl and it’s effects. People are tired of being portrayed as victims and retelling tales of cancer, radiation, and mutations. It’s not that these issues aren’t important, it’s just that there is so much more to tell. It’s become almost a yearly ritual: every April journalists arrive and ask the same questions and tell the same stories to the international media. And there really is so much more to tell.

When I started exploring and asking questions about childhood, Chernobyl simply became one more element in the lives of the people I interviewed. They became the protagonists and what they shared was surprising. They started sending their friends to me to interview them, their family, inviting me for drinks, on trips. It rapidly became very intense and involving. Ironically, my original plans in Russia are still on hold, and I’ve spent more time in Ukraine than I ever imagined I would. I called the project Igrushkawhich means Toy in Russian.