Chukotka is a land of loneliness

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. 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 / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

events

Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Alexander Shchemliaev

Please welcome our new NCU member. Alexander Shchemlyaev, born Dubrovin, was born in 1956 in the Nanai camp...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

David Verberckt

Please welcome our new NCU member. David Verberckt was born in 1971 in Ostend, Belgium. Based in Budapest, Hungary.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Narva 2018

'Chukotka is a land of loneliness' 10 November — 17 December, 2018 Grand Prix of the XXIV International Photo...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Vitebsk 2018

'Ordinary Photos' 20 — 24 June, 2018 III International Festival of Photography “FotoKrok” named after Sigismund...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Sergey Trapezin

Please welcome our new NCU member. Sergey Trapezin was born in 1972 in Moscow, USSR. Based in Moscow, Russia.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Eugene Kanaev

Please welcome our new NCU member. Evgeny Kanaev was born in 1955 in Zelenodolsk, USSR. Based in Kazan, Russia.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Viktor Ratushny

Please welcome our new NCU member. Victor Ratushny was born 1952 allegedly in the Vinnytsia region, Ukrainian...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Odessa 2013

'Ordinary Photos' 1 — 15 October, 2013 Noga Creative Union, Department of Culture, Nationalities, Religions and the...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Nizhny Novgorod 2013

'3 Outskirts' 3 — 16 April, 2013 Noga Creative Union, Ministry of Culture of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and Russian...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Yekaterinburg 2012

'3 Outskirts: Karelia, Altai, Chukotka' 14 May — 20 June, 2012 Noga Creative Union and GM Photo Gallery present...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Anna Voitenko

Please welcome our new NCU member. Anna Voitenko was born in 1979 in Kiev, Ukraine. Based in Kiev, Ukraine.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Alex Melia

Please welcome our new NCU member. Alex Melia was born in 1972 in Moscow, USSR. Based in Moscow, Russia.
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Eric Gourlan

Please welcome our new NCU member. Eric Gourlan was born in 1968 in the town of Lunel (southern France). Based...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Emil Gataullin

Please welcome our new NCU member. Emil Gataullin was born in 1972 in Yoshkar-Ola, Republic of Mari El, USSR. Based...
Misha Maslennikov / Chukotka is a land of loneliness / Tartu 2019. Noga Creative Union

Moscow 2008

'WE' 8 — 28 September, 2008 Noga Creative Union and Theophania Art Gallery present the first solo exhibition of Misha...
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