“Dust,” Nadav Kander’s new exhibition and monograph, explores the radioactive ruins of secret cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia

“Priozersk XIV (I Was Told She Once Held an Oar), Kazakhstan,” 2011, by Nadav Kander, from “Dust.” Image courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London and New York.

Nadav Kander‘s latest fine-art photo project, “Dust,” explores the vestiges of the Cold War through the radioactive ruins of secret cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia. An exhibition of the work opened last week at the Flowers Gallery in London, and Hatje Cantz has published a 128-page monograph featuring 50 color images and text by Nadav and British author Will Self, as well as a poem by Ted Hughes.

From the official press release:

Priozersk (formally known as ‘Moscow 10’) and Kurchatov are closed cities, restricted military zones, concealed and not shown on maps until they were ‘discovered’ by Google Earth. Enlisted to the pursuits of science and war, the sites were utilized for the covert testing of atomic and long-distance weapons. Falsely claimed as uninhabited, the cities, along with nearby testing site ‘The Polygon’ set the stage for one of the most cynical experiments ever undertaken. Scientists watched and silently documented the horrifying effects of radiation and pollution on the local population and livestock

Demolished to preserve their military secrets, the areas now consist predominantly of the ruinous architecture and desolate landscapes featured in Kander’s hauntingly beautiful photographs. A result of the Cold War and of the relentless quest for nuclear armaments, the ruins stand as accidental monuments to the melancholic, dark and destructive side of human nature. Fascinated by the area’s past and driven by discovery, Kander’s photographs portray stark fact and bleak setting with a characteristic poeticism. Secrets seem to seep from the silence of the crumbling monuments, bowing under heavy grey skies. Describing what he saw as ‘empty landscapes of invisible dangers’ Kander’s images evoke his sense of awe and fear as he responded to these places and to the weight of their history.

Selected press:

“Nadav Kander: ‘Dust’ in pictures. Highlights from the London-based photographer’s haunting series of images of the ruins of a Soviet nuclear test site,” The Guardian

“The Human Condition in Soviet Ruins,” Lens blog, The New York Times

“Photographs by Nadav Kander reveal Kazakhstan’s nuclear past,” Financial Times

“Nadav Kander: Radioactive ruins of secret Soviet towns,” BBC

“Nadav Kander’s new show explores the radioactive ruins of two secret cities,” It’s Nice That

The cover of “Dust,” by Nadav Kander. Published by Hatje Cantz.

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