My grandfather Igor, who unfortunately I did not have a chance to see, was in Chernobyl in 1986 as an engineer and liquidator of the accident. After receiving large doses of radiation, he died of blood cancer, leaving my grandmother Mila alone in a one-room apartment quartet, which was received as a reward for my grandfather’s work. My grandmother, however, had two close friends Valya and Ira, who worked together with Mila and Igor in the same RosAtom Ministry and who also connected their fate to tragedy. In Chernobyl, Valya worked for three months as a secretary, Ira went with her husband only for a few weeks. All three women in the result received the status of "Chernobyl Widows", irreparable health consequences, painful memories.
The accident at the Chernobyl NPP is a disease that has poisoned entire generations. The people who lived through all this horror, who took part in the liquidation, who saw everything in real life, have been forgotten and abandoned like blunders in history. All experienced memories have been incorporated into their way of life, into their typical one-room apartments. This work explores the intersection of present and past, the indistinguishable consequences of the catastrophe and the permanence of the place.
The installation is an image of a typical Khrushchev apartment in which Ira, Mila and Valya still live. Each heroine has her own room, which represents her perceptions of the past and today.
My grandfather Igor, who unfortunately I did not have a chance to see, was in Chernobyl in 1986 as an engineer and liquidator of the accident. After receiving large doses of radiation, he died of blood cancer, leaving my grandmother Mila alone in a one-room apartment quartet, which was received as a reward for my grandfather’s work. My grandmother, however, had two close friends Valya and Ira, who worked together with Mila and Igor in the same RosAtom Ministry and who also connected their fate to tragedy. In Chernobyl, Valya worked for three months as a secretary, Ira went with her husband only for a few weeks. All three women in the result received the status of "Chernobyl Widows", irreparable health consequences, painful memories.
The accident at the Chernobyl NPP is a disease that has poisoned entire generations. The people who lived through all this horror, who took part in the liquidation, who saw everything in real life, have been forgotten and abandoned like blunders in history. All experienced memories have been incorporated into their way of life, into their typical one-room apartments. This work explores the intersection of present and past, the indistinguishable consequences of the catastrophe and the permanence of the place.
The installation is an image of a typical Khrushchev apartment in which Ira, Mila and Valya still live. Each heroine has her own room, which represents her perceptions of the past and today.
What happened there?
project, installation, research, prints
drypoint, acrylic paint and fabrics
2022 - present
Serafima Bresler's practice is based on the subject of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the stories of the tragic fates of the people who liquidated its consequences.The catastrophe affected the artist's family as well, Serafima's grandfather was a liquidator of the accident on the exclusion zone. The deeper the artist studied the subject of Chernobyl, the more personal her practice became. It touched on the theme of home and how the experiences and memories reflected on everyday life, influenced the structure and features of everyday life and personal space.
After moving to Hamburg, losing the opportunity to visit flats, Serafima turned her attention to the experience of Chernobyl archives. The practice began to take on a broader context, touching on changes in German and Russian society after the accident as well as the threats of the present time. Whereas in the beginning the context was concentrated on examining the inner workings of the house, the focus is now concentrated on the outer environment and dangers. The house, which was a kind of storage and shelter has become an independent organism, which relies more on the environment than on the resident. The environment behind the walls takes over, controlling the function, the structure, the inner life of the inhabitants, destroying the main function of the house - refuge.
Home
70 x 115 cm
drypoint on primed fabrics
2022
Ira
420 x 594 mm
drypoint on primed fabrics
2022
Sketchbook
2022
Installation "What happened there?"
Annual Exhibition, HFBK, Hamburg
2022
