Lonely Voices

An Atonal commissioned video work from acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhao Liang was shot onsite in Chernobyl northern Ukraine The work focuses on Maria in her 50s when the nuclear disaster occurred in Chernobyl As her village was within 30 kilometres of the restricted area she and her neighbours were forbidden to live in their own homes and instead sent to far away places Maria along with several sisters secretly returned to their village to live a selfsufficient life When Liang met Maria she was over eighty years old and she was left alone in the village The sisters who had secretly returned with her had died He reedited the contents of the interviews with the characters in Svetlana Alexievichs Voices from Chernobyl and created a situation in which the inner echo of the elderly shows the deep pain and irreparable trauma to the human race caused by nuclear tragedy