The Fallout Dogs Of Pripyat

Crumbling skyscrapers and desolate cafes line the streets of Pripyat near Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone. Since the April 1986 nuclear disaster, human society has mostly vanished from the Ukrainian town, but the area remains home to 400 stray dogs and a thousand self-settlers. Fallout Dogs, a documentary by artist Julia Oldham on view at Spaces Gallery through March 22, shows Chernobyl’s role as an unlikely homestead. “Learning about [the dogs] raised the unsettling question for me of, ‘What’s worse for nature? A gigantic, terrible nuclear disaster, or just human presence?’ ” says Oldham, who followed 30 dogs into remote spaces, including the plant’s Cooling Tower 5. There’s no dialogue, but the film features a musical performance by self-settler Valentina and her dog, Danna. “The film really lays bare a man-made catastrophe,” says Spaces executive director Christina Vassallo. “And the fallout from that that we’re still dealing with more than 30 years later.” 2900 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, spacesgallery.org