Chernobyl
Sweden
After the catastrophe in the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl April 26 1986, the measurements of radioactivity taken in Sweden showed that the highest contamination was found in the town Oesterfaernebo, north of Uppsala. The scientists downplaying the danger of irradiation, made me suspicious. In the summer of 1987 I made my first trip to a contaminated area of the Chernobyl cloud. I wanted to see how the insects in the fallout areas had fared. In Gysinge and Oesterfaernebo I collected my first morphologically disturbed true bugs. The detected deformities shocked me deeply. Many of the plants were not green but dark red. In my hotel room I studied the true bugs with my binocular microscope and made watercolor sketches. I was also struck by the despair of the local people I met there because they could no longer eat what was growing in their gardens. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]