217 (2015-2017) is a series based on images sourced from an article outlining investigations of section 217 in the 4th block of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which contains a lethally radioactive glob of melted matter, formed following the nuclear meltdown in 1986 and dubbed the “Elephant’s Foot”. The object and its surroundings were only safely perceivable through images captured with a remotely controlled camera. While my project refers to the ecological immensity of catastrophe, it is also a personal reconciliation with my childhood experiences in Belarus, where the cultural and emotional consequences of the disaster were never fully perceivable.

217 (Elephant’s Foot Surface Studies) are 20 3D printed objects representing selected sections of the sourced images (close-ups of the surface of the Elephant’s Foot). The form of each 3D rendering was extruded from grayscale variations in the selected sections, based solely on the digital information available.

217 (Elephant’s Foot) is a series of 12 graphite drawings, based the same images sourced from investigations of section 217 in the 4th block of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. With this project, the Elephant’s Foot is interpreted as an object that is necessarily distant and invisible, deriving information from the limits of what is visually accessible in these degraded and artefacted digital black and white images.