An art exhibition commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, featuring the work of CCAD staff, has been snapped up by Hartlepool Art Gallery following on from their successful exhibition at House of Blah Blah.

The exhibition titled 30 Years On – Chernobyl Exposed includes numerous works of art inspired by a group known as 26:86 Collective, and their poignant trip to Chernobyl in Ukraine.

The multi-disciplinary exhibition which runs until November will feature various photographs, installations and graphic art work. Each piece of work is a personal response from each artist who visited Pripyat in Ukraine and the group hope to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the use of nuclear energy.

The project was led by Claire A Baker, a textiles lecturer here at Cleveland College of Art and Design in Hartlepool, Gavin Vaughan who is a graduate of textiles and Alyson Agar who is a history of art lecturer.

Claire said: “The purpose of the exhibition is to try and raise awareness of the effects of Chernobyl and issues that are still really relevant. The UK has more stored chemical waste than anywhere else in the world and this may have serious repercussions in the future. How we act now has possible detrimental effects on the next generation and we want to make people really stop and think.”

“The tour has had a fantastic response so far and it will make a fascinating and thought-provoking visit for the people of Hartlepool,” added Claire.

Official statistics show that the Chernobyl disaster claimed the lives of thirty-one people, unofficially, organisations such as Greenpeace state that up to one million people were affected; there have been a quarter of a million cancer cases and nearly 100,000 fatal cancers during the last 15 years.

60,000 people have additionally died in Russia because of the Chernobyl accident, and estimates of the total death toll for Ukraine and Belarus could reach another 140,000. Nearly five million people still live in the areas considered contaminated and the immediate area of Chernobyl and Pripyat remains inhabitable due to the high radiation levels.

Hartlepool Art Gallery is located in Church Square and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm.