Documenting the Hard Life in Russia’s Frozen Arctic
Documenting the Hard Life in Russia’s Frozen Arctic
2 minute read
A colony of tents, or "chums", belonging to Nenets herders stand in the Arctic tundra in the Russian Nenets Autonomous Region. The culture of the indigenous people of the Russian Arctic eroded under Soviet collectivization and now their land is endangered due to modern oil and gas exploration, February 2011.Justin Jin
The Soviet Union was known for its doublespeak, but when Moscow bureaucrats called the 7,000-km area of the Russian Arctic the “zone of absolute discomfort,” they were speaking the truth. Temperatures in the settlements of the far north, which spans from Alaska to Finland, can dip below –45°C in the winter. Living conditions are wretched, which is one reason Stalin used these towns as gulags. Descendants of some of the prisoners still live in these Arctic communities. Among the people who seem adapted to the conditions are the indigenous herders known as Nenets, who live in tents called chums.
Yet there are billions of tons of oil and natural gas locked beneath the permafrost—a fact that has drawn a new wave of workers to the Arctic, as the photographer Justin Jin documents. It’s not an easy place to work as a photographer—Jin once got frostbite from the cold metal of his camera pressed against his face—but the material is worth it. “The Arctic is like a blank sheet on which you could see all the tensions of Russia played out,” says Jin, who has worked in Russia for years. “You have the extreme expanse of space, the endless nature, the riches trapped in the tundra. It’s all the contradictions and juxtapositions of Russia.”
Justin Jin is a documentary photographer based in Belgium.
Bryan Walsh is TIME’s Foreign Editor.
A colony of tents, or "chums", belonging to Nenets herders stand in the Arctic tundra in the Russian Nenets Autonomous Region. The culture of the indigenous people of the Russian Arctic eroded under Soviet collectivization and now their land is endangered due to modern oil and gas exploration, February 2011.Justin JinNenets, native people of the Russian Arctic region, herd reindeer in -40C (-40F). The herders sell reindeer meat to sausage factories and antlers to China for use as traditional medicine, February 2011.Justin JinReindeer herder Simyon travels by sled from his chum towards Vorkuta to buy supplies. Construction of gas pipelines and industrial complexes forces them to travel further afield in search of pastures, January 2009.Justin JinA car drives past a water-heating plant in Naryan-Mar, capital of the resource-rich Nenets Autonomous Region in Arctic Russia, where many of the oil and gas exploration companies have their local headquarters, February 2011. Justin JinA gas flare is seen overhead at a drilling well in Novy Urengoi, Arctic Siberia, Russia, December 2014.Justin JinAndrei, a tank driver for an oil and gas prospecting company. Russian oil workers typically spend the entire winter in the cold, isolated Arctic tundra, only returning to civilization in the spring, February 2012.Justin JinA Russian worker at a drilling well in Yamal, Arctic Siberia, Russia, which has the world's largest gas deposit, December 2014.Justin JinThe Portovaya compressor station where Russian gas is condensed before it is piped across the Baltic Sea bed to supply energy to Europe. With sanctions over Russia's incursion into Ukraine and tumbling world energy prices, Russia’s economy has slowed, November 2014.Justin JinA gas drilling facility at the Kumzhinskoe gas field located in the delta of Pechora River in the Nenets Autonomous Region, said by environmentalists to be disaster-prone, February 2011.Justin JinA Russian gas worker sprays steam to unfreeze pipes in Novy Urengoi, Arctic Siberia, Russia, December 2014.Justin JinA Russian oil worker rubs himself with snow outside a mobile sauna in the Arctic tundra. The water is heated by a diesel tank, February 2012.Justin JinSunken boats and abandoned houses lay rotting by an icy bay in Teriberka, a former prosperous fish-processing community waiting for an economic boom through gas production, February 2012. Justin JinYorshor, an abandoned village near Vorkuta, which most people left after the closure of the Soviet-era coal mine, February 2008.Justin JinKarp Belgayev, a coal miner, walks through Yorshor, an abandoned village near Vorkuta where he is among the last ten inhabitants. Miners say that after ten years working underground and poor washing, it is impossible to remove black rings from around the eyes, January 2009.Justin JinValery, a married miner and union representative in Severny village outside Vorkuta, dances with his lover Lena, while his friend Alexander watches jealously. Justin JinA WWII monument stands above Murmansk, the world's largest Arctic city and a vital industrial and shipping hub. The city became an important military base during the Cold War with Finland and Norway just across the border, March 2010.Justin Jin
