Onur Gökmen’s exhibition Subsoil revisits the largely overlooked aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Turkey, focusing on the radioactive contamination of Black Sea tea and the institutional responses that followed. Drawing on a study conducted by scientists at Middle East Technical University—including the artist’s parents—the exhibition highlights how evidence of contamination was downplayed by authorities despite public exposure through media leaks. Through a layered installation combining documentary and fictional elements, Gökmen reconstructs this episode across three interconnected scenes: the scientific investigation, the mediatized narratives shaped by state and bureaucracy, and photographic traces of the disaster’s lingering impact. Together, these elements explore how invisible environmental harm permeates both natural and institutional systems, shaping public memory, health, and policy, while suggesting that radiation—and its cultural and political reverberations—persists across generations and geographies.