May 4, 2019 • 0

Photography | David McMillan

Lobby, Childrenâs Hospital, October 2012. From the book, David McMillan: Growth and Decay - Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, published by [Steidl Books](https://steidl.de/Books/Growth-and-Decay-Pripyat-and-the-Chernobyl-Exclusion-Zone-2326353746.html?SID=wNv9pBXee1bc) Â© David McMillan, 2018

You may have been watching the new Sky/HBO mini-series showing the events of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster and all the death and destruction that followed, but that destruction still continues to this day as the area that at one point was home to over 120,000 people is slowly reclaimed by nature.

Kindergarten floor with slippers, October 2006. From the book, David McMillan: Growth and Decay - Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, published by [Steidl Books](https://steidl.de/Books/Growth-and-Decay-Pripyat-and-the-Chernobyl-Exclusion-Zone-2326353746.html?SID=wNv9pBXee1bc) Â© David McMillan, 2018

Photographer David McMillan was lucky enough to be one of the first people allowed to explore the exclusion zone back in 1994 and has gone on to revisit the area over 20 times in the following decades, documenting the beauty and urban decay over the years, with some locations so transformed since his first visit that he no longer recognises them.

Luckily for us, David has selected 200 of his beautiful and poignant images to be published in his newly released book Growth and Decay: Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, thus giving us an interesting look at just what has happened to the former thriving cities and countryside that surrounded the power plant but also just how the area continues to change and evolve without any human interference.