Her journals and photos are poignant while weaving political history, scientific antidotes, her personal impressions and true life stories of the abandoned people and animals, not only within the dead zone but in hundreds of ghost towns 40 to 80 kms away from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site.
Elena Filatova has made exploring these areas and ghost towns a life long hobby and this year at the 10th anniversary of her website published Chernobyl Photobook ' Ghost Town.' The proceeds go toward the author buying food supplies and essentials for all those still remaining in the irradiated and abandoned ghost towns and villages to this day.
We are also fond of the authors journal 'Land of the Wolves.' And recently, her concerns are for the recent nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plants in Japan:
"Nowadays, we are moving from catastrophe to catastrophe so fast that no
one has time to learn from what is happening, thus we are doomed to
repeat it all again and again. Each time history repeats itself the
price goes up.
My aim is to take hold of important events I have witnessed and rescue
from oblivion deeds that have been forgotten or chosen to have been
forgotten. With time, cities perish and the memory of things is lost, so
the sole purpose of my work is to preserve memories on the internet
forever.
Since the Ghost Town site first went on the Internet in 2003, tens of
millions visitors have viewed the Chernobyl information which it
provides. This site is maintained by me, the author, and is completely
free of all popup ads and spyware. There are no copyright issues.
Work on this site is my hobby, which I pursue in my free time.""
We can't say enough good things about the authors courageous explorations into contaminated areas, her insights and obvious passion for her cause. In our mind's, Elena Filatova is the epitomy of what it means to be an explorer who explores the abandoned.
