Other paintings record the emotional upheaval of abandoning the homes and villages of their families, often times leaving their elderly and pets behind. Oth ers document the Chernobyl Blast and the invisible danger surrounding radiation contamination. Ten years after Chernobyl, the situation in Belarus has grown even more critical. Birth defects and various cancers continue to rise in astounding rates. Local people are paralyzed with fear about living in a contaminated environment poisoned by an invisible radioactive fallout they cannot detect.
Hospitals are over-burdened by the shear numbers of sick children and adults.
There is a severe lack of supplies, medical equipment, medicines, and diagnostic technology. Even baby food is non-existent or in extremely short supply. Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, Curator of the exhibition and Director of the Chicago Athenaeum visited the Chernobyl Zone several times since 1993 for the purposes of this exhibition. It is as if there had been a war with a neutron bomb that destroyed only the people and left the physical environment intact. It is eire.