10 November — 17 December, 2018
Grand Prix of the XXIV International Photo Festival Narva Autumn 2018. Noga Creative Union presents a black and white photograph of Misha Maslennikov from the series: Chukotka is a land of loneliness.
During the month the exhibition will be on display at the House of Culture “Rogudiv”.
8 Alexander Pushkin Str., Narva, Estonia.


Chukotka is a land of loneliness

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Chukotka has so much sheer space, uninhabited and inaccessible, that it’s as if no one needs you but yourself. However, the state needs Russian travelers, diverse specialists, the military, and seamen, who have put down roots in Chukotka for generations already. Sent there by the state some time ago, they now dream of returning to the “mainland”. The Chukchi, a critically endangered minority people, may also want to go to the mainland, but they cannot leave their ancestors, whose memory they traditionally revere, and this matters more than any bureaucratic subsidies. Clergymen and Orthodox believers are another thing: in these sparsely, sporadically populated locales, those who pray are few and far between, and it seems that God is the only one aware that above all these people need themselves. Nevertheless the greatest and most prominent feature of life in Chukotka is necessity. Relatives and friends, acquaintances and colleagues, go visiting each other, across the street, from one entranceway to another of the same half-empty, half-ruined buildings built half a century ago. All around are empty streets, with the empty eye-sockets of windows, often bereft of glass, and empty abandoned lots. But here and there a light shines, and here people live, and work. And while they might not need you, with your camera and your casual interest, you need them all, without exception.

Where is the paradox? In the fact that you have been gazing upon the boundless ocean, the majestic hills and the distant stony horizon somewhat longer than a tourist, a seasonal worker, or a foreign resident agent. You remember the way you rubbed shoulders with the sea hunter, the old huntsman and the fisherman, the harbor master and the seacook, the simple Chukcha boy or the priest, perhaps a monk. Are you starting to understand something? You are becoming aware that without people Chukotka is dead, and that it is looking for you, and waiting for you, and that it needs you.

Misha Maslennikov 2007


Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

The House of Culture “Rogudiv”


Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

events

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Vitebsk 2018

'Ordinary Photos'
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Sergey Trapezin

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Eugene Kanaev

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Viktor Ratushny

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Odessa 2013

'Ordinary Photos'
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Nizhny Novgorod 2013

'3 Outskirts'
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Yekaterinburg 2012

'3 Outskirts: Karelia, Altai, Chukotka'
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Anna Voitenko

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Alex Melia

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Eric Gourlan

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Emil Gataullin

Please welcome our new NCU member.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Moscow 2008

'WE'
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Alexander Shumskikh

One of the first NCU members.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Misha Maslennikov

Head of NCU.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Narva 2018. Noga Creative Union

Bill Shapiro

Please welcome our new NCU author.
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