The Polygon, 2025-

“Everything comes to nothing, everything perishes, everything passes, only the world remains, only time endures.”

- Denis Diderot

The Semipalatinsk Test Site, also known as ‘The Polygon’ is a former Soviet Union nuclear test site which was operationally active from 1949-1989, closing shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The site is located in Kazakhstan, covering an area of 18,000sq km. Through its operational lifespan, 456 nuclear tests were performed on the site for scientific, engineering and military purposes. I had been aware of ‘The Polygon’ for around a decade, having come across it through my extensive research into the Soviet Union, and the darker peripheries of its culture and practices. I’ve always been interested in mankind’s innate thirst for power and the dire consequences that inevitably follow, all too often at the expense of the environment and innocent people. The test site was ‘discovered’ by Google Maps in the early 2000’s, existing in secluded secrecy for many years. The sense of mystery that clouded the site ignited my sense of curiosity, and insnared my desire to document this great ruin, now a decaying monument of the dangers of nuclear testing and the Soviet Union’s failed quest to attain nuclear superiority over the western world. When you are in the site, these places seem empty, still and unassuming, but there is a looming danger throughout the barren landscape; radioactivity. As I travelled around the site, photographing destroyed landscapes, I saw how there was no visual clue as to how inhospitable this place was to humanity, a fact only clarified by the white overalls we had to wear and the Geiger counter at hand as we cautiously entered contaminated areas. Ruins are by their nature, paradoxical, as we are simultaneously terrified by destruction yet transfixed by its beauty and this theme of architecture representing humanities darker side has become increasingly predominant in my work. Despite my cynical feelings towards this place there is signs that nature is beginning to reclaim the landscape, and several ecological tests have been performed on the site to study the longterm effects of nuclear testing on the environment, with promising results.