Chernobyl Stomps Lappland

Some of my ancestors are from the far north of Sweden, where reindeer herds once roamed freely. In 1986, repercussions from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster extended far beyond the actual site. Radioactive debris was carried aloft and traveled westward, causing alarm about the safety of European vegetation and milk.

What was not fully understood at the time was that the radiation blanketed the northern part of Sweden and Finland, absorbed into the moss eaten by herds of reindeer. The animals became ill and calved abnormal offspring. Mass graves were created by bulldozers, filled with thousands upon thousands of carcasses.

Tragically, the meat of the contaminated animals had already been consumed in large amounts by the indigenous people, the Sami (once called Lapps). Their Cesium levels soared. A people who had revered the reindeer and made use of every part of the animal could no longer continue their culture, traditions, or migratory lifestyle. It was the end of an era. Since then, Proctor and Gamble purchased much of the lumber rights in these northern territories. This seems the final insult. The trees became disposable baby diapers.

When I began this series, I sat with a photograph of an old family friend. In the photo, John Grandquist stands in full Sami attire beside a smokehouse full of reindeer meat. I was sobered, thinking of vanishing cultures and the near parallel plight of Native Americans. These proud peoples lost their beasts of burden, en masse, only to be themselves sickened by smallpox delivered to them through blankets given to them as gifts.

For this series, I used family Kodachrome slides of places in Lappland, sandwiching them with hand-distressed slides from a children’s book about idyllic life in the North countries.

-Monika Lidman