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Revision as of 14:58, 7 December 2013

Elena Filatova
Born	1974 Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Pen name	Kid of Speed Gamma Girl
Occupation	Writer, Photographer
Genre	Nonfiction, History

Elena Vladimirovna Filatova (Template:Lang-ru, Ukrainian: Олена Володимирівна Філатова; born 1974 in Ukraine, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian motorcyclist and photographer who uses the online nickname "KiddOfSpeed". Her website, containing a photo-essay presented as solo motorcycle rides through Chernobyl's zone of alienation, gained her internet fame. Her website gained popularity due to its mention on Slashdot and other online news sources. A guide who brings disaster tourists to the region later said that Filatova's account is fictional —and that she simply wore biker clothing and posed for pictures while in a group tour. Filatova has also made photo-documentary websites of Kiev-area history about the Orange Revolution and about the city's historic "Serpent's Wall" defensive earthworks and their role in the fighting there during World War II.

Chernobyl photos and motorcycle trip

Filatova's website contains a series of photographs documenting the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, starting just under 18 years after the nuclear disaster there. She visited the virtually abandoned city of Prypiat, Ukraine and a circular area surrounding the 1986 Chernobyl disaster known as the Exclusion Zone.

Her website features a large number of photographs of Chernobyl-area buildings, cottages, rusting carnival equipment, and the interiors of disused Prypiat schools, shops, and apartments. The photos are mostly snapshots of the scenery, but a few show Filatova —usually with Shoei-brand motorcycle gear. Some show a motorcycle. The photos are presented as an account of a trip by a biker who trekked alone in the radiation zone. However, Chernobyl tour guide Yuri Tatarchuk later said that Filatova "booked a tour, wore a leather biker jacket and posed for pictures."

Other projects

Among her projects is a photo-journal about the Serpent's Wall near the city of Kiev, her home. The journal contains photos of Filatova's exploration of an ancient wall and more modern World War II fortifications built amongst its remains.

Other links in her website lead to her photo journal of the day of Ukraine's Orange Revolution. In April 2007, she posted more photos of the surrounding Chernobyl area that had been taken in March of that year.

One of the latest projects on the site is photos of abandoned Soviet prison camps established under Joseph Stalin as part of the Soviet Gulag system.

See also

• Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

References

1. Staff (2006-04-15). "Nuclear ghosts shadow victims". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Retrieved 2008-09-05.
2. Mycio, Mary (2004-07-06). "The World; Account of Chernobyl Trip Takes Web Surfers for a Ride". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
3. ^ Chivers, C.J. (2005-06-15). "Prypiat Journal; New Sight in Chernobyl's Dead Zone: Tourists". The New York Times.
4. Staff (2005-08-27). "A day in the half-life of Chernobyl". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
5. http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter2.html
6. Filatova, Elena. "The Perpent's Wall". Retrieved 9 July 2013.
7. Filatova, Elena. "STOLEN ELECTION". Retrieved 9 July 2013.
8. Filatova, Elena. "Spring 2007". Retrieved 9 July 2013.
9. Filatova, Elena. "Excursion to Gulag". Retrieved 9 July 2013.

Bibliography

• Filatova, Elena. Tjernobyl. Dagbok från spökstaden. ISBN 91-7126-050-1.

External links

• Filatova's newer website
• Filatova's older "KiddOfSpeed" Chernobyl website
• Filatova's "Serpent's Wall" WWII Kiev documentary site
• Filatova's "Stolen Election" Orange Revolution documentary site

Template:Persondata

• Internet celebrities
• 1974 births
• Living people
• Ukrainian historians
• Ukrainian photographers
• Ukrainian women writers
• People associated with the Chernobyl disaster
• Women photographers