Pivdennoukrainsk,Ukraine

A relief mosaic covers the entire face of an administrative building: a sunburst radiating in gold and orange from a single point, ringed by discs that read as planets or atoms, some with small spheres orbiting on stalks. White doves are set into the surface in relief, flying across it. The tiles are built up into projecting blades rather than laid flat, so the whole wall casts its own shadows. Behind it stand the reactor's rust-red containment cylinder and a striped stack; in front, a turquoise reflecting pool and clipped lawn.

Construction of the plant began in 1975, and the first of its reactors went into operation in December 1982. It now runs three VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors and is the second largest of Ukraine's five nuclear power stations. The mosaic's author is unknown.

From Yevgen Nikiforov's series Ukrainian Soviet Mosaics, a photographic survey of monumental mosaic art across Ukraine.

Edition No: 1/10

Print Size: 16 × 24 inches

Orientation: landscape

Medium: digital print, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag

Year photograph was taken: 2017

Year print was produced: 2026

© Yevgen Nikiforov. Image courtesy of the photographer and used with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction, distribution, publication or commercial use without prior written permission.

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