After winning the Fondation Yves Rocher grant last year at Visa pour l'image in Perpignan, France, between October 2016 and 2017, I spent a couple of months of reporting in the east of Kazakhstan, exploring the legacy of the nuclear testing conducted there during the Cold War. Nearly a quarter of the world's nuclear tests were conducted in the Semipalatinsk Test Site by the Soviets, where they detonated their first nuclear warhead, sparking the beginning of the nuclear arms-race. The land now lays wasted, and hundreds of thousands of people still live with the consequences of the radiation unleashed there.
The work is presented for the first time at the magnificent Festival Photo La Gacilly in Brittany, France, in the Maison de la photographie, comprising 55 images from my two trips to Kazakhstan. The festival hosts more than 30 other exhibitions, ranging from Malick Sidibé's studio in Bamako, to David Chancellor's exquisite exploration of trophy hunters.
The festival opens June 3 and runs through the summer, until the end of September. The majority of exhibitions are outside, and entrance is free. There are regular trains from Paris.