TRULY UNPLEASANT PLACES
blank postcards sent to Prypiat
and Fukushima
2011

The nuclear disaster at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the canton of Fukushima, Japan resulted in yet another case of a residential region turning into a ghost town.

After the earthquake, but still at the time of rescue operations, I sent postcards to the town halls of the towns affected and, at the same time, to the town of Prypiat (close to Chernobyl).

I wanted certainty.

The post cards were manufactured from paper of the brand “Munken” - a pure material, able to react sensitively to the environment. They served as a special kind of litmus.

Because the locations had been classified as “inaccessible” and thus treated as non-existent by the local postal service, the postcards were returned a few weeks later.