Galya Bisengalieva - Polygon (2023)

On the steppe in northeast Kazakhstan, the Semipalatinsk Test Site, known as ‘the Polygon’, was once home to nearly a quarter of the world’s nuclear testing.

The vast and flat landscape, the kind of place often misleadingly described as “uninhabited”, provided anonymity and isolation for the former Soviet Union leaders. However the steppe was also home to a delicate and thriving ecosystem made up of mountains, hills and pine forests running along the river Irtysh.

The region held a sacred meaning to Kazakhs. The birthplace of intellectual literature and culture, famous for its musicians, poets and writers.

For the inhabitants, the 465 nuclear tests conducted during its existence had dire consequences on an ancient landscape that supported traditional pasturelands with little regard for their effect on the local people or the environment, leading to devastating long-term impacts.