People

by Diego Manca

From his book
"Cuore d'Europa"

...These baby pine trees are called "Mutant plants" and the proof comes from the fact that pine tree needles normally grow in pairs, in other words, two at a time, whereas here there are three or four. Other needles grow directly from the tree trunk while the trunks themselves vary between being extremely soft and as hard as beechwood. It is only to easy to see, as well as feel, that a genetic mutation has taken place here. Apparently unconcerned, Doina went up to the soldier who was acting as our driver and, through Galia, asked if we could continue our journey. We therefore said goodbye to the biologist, got back in the van and set off again. The further we drove, the more the landscape gradually changed. We could see huge flat areas of land, as if enormous bulldozers had levelled out the ground. The soldier sitting in the back with us told us that 12 or 13 villages around the power station had been razed to the ground and buried, along with an entire pine wood. Everything is covered over by earth.

the ruined City Hall of Vetka

The soldier's words made a great impression on us. We looked out of the window at what looked to me like an enormous cemetery and I slowly began to realise the extent of the ecological disaster that had taken place here. And I was frightened. The anguished feeling that I had had from the very beginning grew even stronger. As I knew that the air was polluted, I took short, shallow breaths, even though it may seem stupid, as I sometimes do when riding a bicycle in the midst of the traffic in the city. All this made me even more nervous and irritable and when at a certain point the driver took some disposable protective masks out of the glove pocket to put over our faces, I almost snatched mine out of his hand. I immediately said "Sorry," in English, but the young soldier appeared to understand my tension and quickly replied "Da, da!" and something else that I was unable to understand...

See also: Chernobyl in the blood FAN

FAN-Florence ART News
a cura di
Silvia Messeri & Sandro Pintus