This image conveys the presence of life and human-animal relationships in a toxic place, a relationality that complicates understandings of toxic landscapes. The image juxtaposes the capacity of life with the "slow violence enacted upon non humans" in a toxic place.
I think it would be helpful to elaborate on the people who have these relationships of care for these animals in this toxic place. The question at the end regarding responsibility could also be elaborated on.
This image is assumed to be created by the ethnographer. There is an understanding of the presence of both humans and animals at first glance of the image.
If there is a way to add something to the image where the viewer understands immediately that this is near Chernobyl then the toxicity of the place may be able to be conveyed more through the image.
This visualization alongside the caption expresses the literal toxicity of a place, while complicating this toxicity through the acknowledgement of human-animal relationships.
This research is a provocative effort at decentering the agency of humans in a world dominated by man and technology. It brings to the fore non-human agents and their reclamation of geographical territory that has been rendered severely toxic to the point where all forms of life ceased to exist. The larger question I believe the essay raises is the constructed fiction of "boundary," more broadly the imaginary political divisions that delineate the nation-state and sets it apart from neighboring states.
contaminated is too strong a word in my opinion. Having read your essays and critical commentary I think your argument transcends mere contamination since you hint a synergy between wildlife and the exclusion zone and its envrions
The images were all taken by the ethnographer and in terms of scale, they are narrowly focused on the animal species (all very cute and heartwarming images I must say).
Maps will go a long way to support your argument. Move across scales. Not everyone is familiar with the exclusion zone following the Chernobyl disaster, so you may want to include an image of that. Also, from a reflexive perspective, include your movements as you conducted the fieldwork. Chart the cartography of spaces you traversed relative to the Exclusionary Zone. Furthermore, and this is just a proposition, but maybe trace the two charismatic members you focus on in terms of their migrations and movements relative to seasonal and climatic shifts?
Put simply, this evocative project invites us back to humanly induced toxic places through the lens of wildlife.
