Elena Filatova
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| Elena Filatova | |
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| Born | 1974 Prypiat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Pen name | Kid of Speed Gamma Girl |
| Occupation | Writer, Photographer |
| Genres | Nonfiction, History |
Elena Vladimirovna Filatova (Russian: Елена Филатова, born 1974 in Prypiat, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian motorcyclist and photographer who uses the online nickname "KidOfSpeed". Her website, containing a photo-essay of her purported solo motorcycle rides through Chernobyl's radioactive "dead zone", gained her internet fame.[1] It was later suggested that the story accompanying the photos was fictional and that they were taken during a public group tour.[2] Her website gained popularity due to its mention on Slashdot and other online news sources.[3]
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[edit] Chernobyl photos and motorcycle trip
On her website, she posted photographs of her motorcycle and tour trips in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, starting just under 18 years after the nuclear disaster there.[4] She visited the virtually abandoned city of Prypiat, Ukraine and a circular area surrounding the 1986 Chernobyl disaster known as the Exclusion Zone.[5]
Filatova took a large number of photographs of Chernobyl-area buildings, cottages, rusting never-to-be-used Prypiat carnival equipment, the interiors of disused schools and homes, fire, petrol, police and government stations, and of people who had since returned to the area. The photos are arranged in the form of a story presented as an account of a trip by a biker who travelled alone in the radiation zone. However, Chernobyl tour guide Yuri Tatarchuk claimed that Filatova "booked a tour, wore a leather biker jacket and posed for pictures."[2]
[edit] Criticism and response
Around May 16, 2004, Filatova posted to her website that she was "being accused that it was more poetry in this story then [sic] reality. I partly accept this accusation, it still was more reality then [sic] poetry"; by May 24 she had removed the note.[4] On the first page of her KiddofSpeed website there is a dialog embedded by the owner of her host server pointing out that regardless of whether or not "poetic license" was taken, the site serves to "remember a forgotten region".
[edit] Other projects
Among her more recent projects is a photo-journal about the Serpent's Wall near the city of Kiev, her home. The journal contains photos of Filatova's exploration of an ancient wall and more modern World War II fortifications built amongst its remains. She also includes history of the region during both the 1917 October Revolution and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
Other links in her website lead to her photo journal of the day of the Ukraine's Orange Revolution. In April 2007, she posted more photos of the surrounding Chernobyl area that had been taken in March of that year.
One of the latest projects on the site is photos of abandoned Soviet prison camps established under Stalin as part of the Soviet Gulag system.
[edit] References
- ^ Staff (2006-04-15). "Nuclear ghosts shadow victims". The Advertiser (Adelaide). http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,18825302-912,00.html. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
- ^ a b Chivers, C.J. (2005-06-15). "Prypiat Journal; New Sight in Chernobyl's Dead Zone: Tourists". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902EEDD163BF936A25755C0A9639C8B63&sec=travel.
- ^ Mycio, Mary (2004-07-06). "The World; Account of Chernobyl Trip Takes Web Surfers for a Ride". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b "Wayback archive for http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ Staff (2005-08-27). "A day in the half-life of Chernobyl". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.theage.com.au/news/russia/a-day-in-the-halflife-of-chernobyl/2005/08/24/1124562907092.html. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
[edit] Bibliography
- Filatova, Elena. Tjernobyl. Dagbok från spökstaden. ISBN 9171260501.
[edit] External links
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