Planning a Future Within Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters

The world is ending, but art awaits.

I first read about the Chernobyl disaster in AP Environmental Science. Our teacher talked about how devastating the meltdown was and the lives that it ruined. Documentaries and printouts created a barrier where my class could talk about the pitfalls of nuclear power when done without reliable failsafes and inefficient governments.

Yevgenia Nayberg, nicknamed Genya as a child, lived through the meltdown. Yet her memoir is not about fleeing the place as a refugee or enduring a fascist regime. It’s about making a life and plans for the future regardless of impending doom. Genya can’t worry about Chernobyl because she has a goal to achieve. Though it probably helps that the locals receive little to no factual information on what’s going on, and how the few bits of information affect their daily lives.

Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters: A Graphic Memoir by Yevgenia Nayberg

Genya prepares for art school entrance exams as a child. Despite Soviet occupation in Kiev and a world where the adults barely trust the news, fathers go to the United States and can never return, and being Jewish means you are barred from many opportunities, Genya remains optimistic. Her mother, an animator at a local studio, went to art school at the same age and takes over drilling her when the drawing instructor Olga leaves for Russia following some news from Chernobyl. She promises that if Genya gets rejected, she will buy a whole bag of cherries for Genya to eat. Genya looks forward to that as she practices her still-lives and grows out her braid. A new stepfather and baby brother add more life to the house, but nothing seems to stand in her way.

The threat of long-term poisoning then ensues. Yes, the Chernobyl meltdown happens. Though Kiev is a fair distance away, anyone who has traveled that way died from radiation exposure. Genya’s mother starts giving iodine to her kids as other parents evacuate their children from the city. Though Genya protests, she has to cut the braid that she’s lovingly cultivated for five years.

Genya’s mother and Leon, Genya’s stepfather, discuss if they should also send the kids away for their safety. If the kids and adults leave, however, what about the examinations and Genya’s future? How will they make sure that she can follow her creative dreams if fleeing from a toxic present? As far as they know, Kiev isn’t shutting down its art school permanently. How do you make that judgment call as a child, let alone as a parent?

The story is surprisingly light despite the subject matter. Genya talks matter-of-factly about her battles to look “banal”, maintain her art studies and fit in with her more feminine classmates while wanting to remain a left-handed artist. Bomb craters in beaches make her want to swim over them and prove she’s strong. She doesn’t like having to focus on art subjects related to the news, finding princesses and experimental subjects more fascinating than irregular propaganda. Still, her mother reminds her that fitting in matters more at this stage, with her exam outfit and her subjects. She has to beat the one percent quota.

We also see the desire to live. Not just to survive but to also chase dreams when they seem impossible. Genya’s mother doesn’t believe their lives are over because of Chernobyl, not the least because no one knows what’s going on and how to prevent radiation poisoning. Though the adults fret, and Genya’s aunt thinks that her sister is a terrible mother for planning to return to Kiev for the exams, they try to make the best of a bad situation. Leon calls Genya a hero after they convince her to cut her hair to ease the pain of losing five years of effort.

Art is about making the best of a situation and expressing our feelings about it. Genya’s determination to draw and become an artist fuels her focus, even as the world threatens to fall apart. You also see this in her postmodern style within the comic, refusing to conform to flat terror or perfect forms. It’s all about the feelings conveyed from the panels rather than concrete images. She lived through what most of us would consider the worst possible event ever and didn’t develop long-term complications or a ruined present. Genya could continue drawing, and she did until she no longer had to draw cosmonauts and farmers. Then she could draw her story for us.

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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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