Igrushka - A Fable of Toys & Isotopes


  • Photographer
    Jan Smith
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    NA
  • Date of Photograph
    Feb. 2011
  • Technical Info
    Digital Rangefinder

Igrushka means “toy” in Russian. It retells the Chernobyl accident through the portraits of forsaken toys from a very particular nursery in the abandoned city of Pripyat. These toys illustrate a way of playing that changed after the accident and fall of the USSR. They are also a conduit to memories about Chernobyl. The images are paired with stories and fables found on open pages in the nursery, as well as with excerpts from interviews with persons who were children at the time. (note that writing in this case is also an essential element of the work) The project is ongoing, and will hopefully culminate in a book later this year.

Story

Igrushka means “toy” in Russian. It retells the Chernobyl accident through the portraits of forsaken toys from a very particular nursery in the abandoned city of Pripyat. These toys illustrate a way of playing that changed after the accident and fall of the USSR. They are also a conduit to memories about Chernobyl. The images are paired with stories and fables found on open pages in the nursery, and with excerpts from interviews with persons who were children at the time. The project is ongoing, and includes social media sites where people register their memories.

Memories of Chernobyl: My father repaired radios and electronics so he had a radio that could pick-up stations in Greece and Turkey, and he told us that a nuclear plant had an accident.” Alfiya/ Age on April 26, 1986: Eight/ Residence in 1986: Yalta

Little Snow Girl, A Russian Folktale
The old couple had never been able to have children, so they made a little girl out of snow, and she came to life.
Sleep, Little Snow Girl, sleep,
Our tasty bun so sweet,
Rolled from the snow of spring,
Warmed by the sun of spring.
We’ll give you drink a-plenty,
We’ll give you food galore,
And make you such a pretty dress
And teach you four times four.

Favorite Toy : “I had a red doll that was round and would always stay standing. My sister broke it one day to see what was inside that made it do that.” Zhanna/ Age on April 26, 1986: Ten / Residence in 1986: Poltava

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