Nadav Kander's new show explores the radioactive ruins of two secret cities

The debate over so-called “ruin porn” has raged for several years now, exploring the cultural and ethical ramifications of turning the decrepit and dilapidated into art. But if anyone could breathe new life into this kind of project, it’s Nadav Kander. The photographer’s new show Dust opens in London today, and takes as its epigraph the T.S Eliot line: “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

Nadav was researching Russian cities when he came across two small towns on the border with Kazakhstan that had been kept secret until Google Earth literally put them on the map. Kurchatov and Priozersk were sites where the Russian authorities ran nuclear tests to document the horrifying effects of the fall-out on local people and the landscape.

They spoke to Nadav’s interest in our relationship with our surroundings – most memorably explored in his work on the Yangtze river – and so he went to photograph them. Nadav’s genius lies in the way he captures quiet. These are stark, bleak landscapes where dramatic, unimaginable events took place, but he never over-plays his hand and works with the stillness of these scenes rather than trying to ramp up emotional manipulation.

Below is an excerpt from Nadav’s own text which appears in the book that accompanies the exhibition.

Nadav Kander from Nadav Kander, Dust (published by Hatje Cantz)

“Ruins conjure paradoxical emotions. We are at the same time frightened and mesmerised by destruction, as we are by death. And without being fully aware of what is pulling me, I am continually drawn to explore this theme; the darker side of our nature, of mankind.
I find the ruin, in its many guises, beautiful, as have many artists before me. But it is the combination of beauty and destruction, beauty and melancholy, that really attracts me.”

“When you are there, these places seem empty and silent. I was photographing destroyed landscapes without any clue as to how inhospitable they were to man—apart from the white overalls we had to wear. The Geiger counters brought from the UK chattered away on our belts, keeping us from the worst of the invisible dangers.”

“As I pondered these burnt and fallen ruins—edifices that had been built specifically to test how much they could stand—I was reminded of Albert Speer’s notion of ‘ruin value’, the idea that buildings should be designed to eventually fall into aesthetically pleasing ruins, demonstrating to future onlookers the might of previous generations. When Sir John Soane designed the Bank of England, he presented the governors with three oil sketches, the third of which showed how beautiful the building would look in ruins—a thousand years onward. I wonder how the ruins we see here on these pages will speak to future generations.”

Nadav Kander: Dust is at The Flowers Gallery, Kingsland Road, until 11 October. Find out more on our exhibitions listing site, This at There.