New East Digital Archive

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Started in 2012, this on-going project by St Petersburg-based documentary photographer and filmmaker Maria Morina aims to explore the social landscape of Ukrainian cities involved in the nuclear power production chain. Morina shows youngsters drinking beer and children playing very close to some of the biggest nuclear power stations in the world. The project includes Zaporizhia, the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe, and one in Crimea which was abandoned by all but scrap collectors after it was discovered to be located on a geologically volatile site.

Read more. Beauty and the east: allure and exploitation in post-Soviet ruin photography

31 July 2014

Read more

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Hide and seek: a rare glimpse into one of Russia’s last closed cities

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Tell it to the mountain: a personal view from the top of the Caucasus

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Urban pastoral: Alexander Gronsky’s visions of thwarted arcadia

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Cinema paradiso: a photographer’s ode to Russia’s dying movie theatres

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Time and tide: photographer Igor Simkin hikes the St Petersburg Riviera

Half life: documenting the struggle for existence in the atomic cities of the former USSR

Lost in time: photographer Lily Idov goes in search of Russia’s least known museums