IV ARCTIC

SÁMI - Finland 2000, Russia, 2005
The Sami are spread across the north of Scandinavia and Russia. There are an estimated 85,000 Sami, 2,000 of whom live in Northern Russia on the Kola Peninsula. Most Kola-Sami live in Lovozero south of the city of Murmansk. They originally lived as nomads. During Communist times in the context of the ‘civilising offensive’, they were obliged to go to schools. Many communities were displaced to newly created towns, which resulted in many traditions being lost.

NENETS - Russia, 2006
Nenets Brigade number five is in the Pechora-delta, some forty kilometres from the Barents Sea in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) in North Russia. It is one of the four remaining brigades of the oldest kolchoz in the NAO. In the current kolchoz system, the reindeer and everything surrounding them is the property of the collective. The Nenets in the brigades have only a small share in the collective and barely receive a salary. Oleg, Andrei, Prokopi and Alexei accompany some 1,500 reindeer in this herd.