26:86 Collective - Chernobyl 30 Years On.

26:86 COLLECTIVE

Чорнобиль 30 лет на

30 YEARS ON - CHERNOBYL EXPOSED’ EXHIBITION On March 28th 2016 a group of artists (26:86 Collective) from the North of England travelled to the Chernobyl exclusion zone in The Ukraine to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the worlds most devastating nuclear accident.

As a brand new collective our recent artistic work includes: illustrative and fine art outcomes, textile art conceptual pieces, creative graphic design, fine art and documentary photography, all include digital and hand rendered traditional and contemporary techniques.

26:86 Collective consists of artists and designers both established and emerging, with a common creative goal. We travelled to Chernobyl and Pripyat in the Ukraine to investigate the real time issues at this site on the 30th anniversary of the world’s biggest and most devastating nuclear disaster. This trip informed and inspired a multi disciplined body of work which will be exhibited with the intention of raising awareness of relevant, weighty and significant issues regarding nuclear energy within our communities today.

Our intention is to exhibit as a group at the very least once, and we feel it is imperative that we do this in the first instance near to or actually within, a community that is or will be affected by the current governmental plans for nuclear energy power plants.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 resonates clearly with world politics of the moment: • Societal collective memory relating to the sudden evacuation of Pripyat and...

• Displacement trauma currently correlating to the refugees from Syria • Safety issues regarding the highly radioactive waste still stored at Chernobyl - relating to the danger of nuclear power stations being placed amongst human life, the governments’ orders of new nuclear power stations from China (and all that entails) • Responsibility i.e. the effect of human error on the mass population and in contrast, heroism - the suicidal bravery of individuals who really did save the world

We anticipate the work to be completed by Autumn 2016 and will be showing (with a touring exhibition) at various venues over a period of approximately 1- 2 years culminating in a show at Hartlepool Art Gallery (as the population of Hartlepool is in such close proximity to a nuclear power station of their own) at the end of 2017.

As a group, we feel there are a number of extremely important issues which will be explored in our exhibition. Not least of which, to educate and inform the residents of Seaton Carew (the town closest to an operating nuclear power station in the world) about the long term problems associated with nuclear power generation.

We also wish to raise awareness of the potential issues relating to the UK’s reliance and expansion of it’s nuclear power program and ultimately the long tern storage of radioactive nuclear waste.

Chernobyl Walls - Claire A Baker

Ukrainian Smile - Alyson Agar

The ‘vehicle graveyard’ where vehicles used in the evacuation and de-contamination were left. the most radioactive were buried and their location maked with a small yellow marker.

Vehicles in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone - Niall Kitching

GRID - Laura Baker

Utopia - Lucy Baker

Чорнобиль - Gavin Vaughan

Stolen Goods - Nicola Golightly

(Unfinished) Cooling Tower No.5

Snapshots of Chernobyl - Arron Gardiner

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS CLAIRE A. BAKER

Embroidery and Textile Artist from Teesside.

ALYSON AGAR

Analogue Photographer and Fine Artist from Teesside.

NIALL KITCHING

Graphic Designer and Stencil Artist from Teesside.

LAURA BAKER

Graphic artist from Teesside.

LUCY BAKER

Photographer from Teesside.

GAVIN VAUGHAN

Avant-garde designer from County Durham.

NICOLA GOLIGHTLY

Visual Artist and Graphic Designer from Teesside.

ARRON GARDINER

Panoramic Photographer.

CONTACTS CLAIRE A. BAKER

: 0777 990 4442 : claire@claireabaker.co.uk

NIALL KITCHING

: 0795 275 4260 : niall.kitching@gmail.com