Imagine being in a place that is literally located at the end of the earth; where most of the areas are roadless and the locals never had their photos taken, let alone are used to visitors in their hometown.
That place is called Chukotka, located in Russia’s remote north-east corner and is the home to over 50,000 people.
The lives of the rural population in Chukotka depend on reindeer herding, whale hunting and fishing. The more modern ones utilize their vast resources of mines, oil, natural gas, coal, gold or is employed in cultural work, education, medicine etc.
Due to their highly limited access for transportation (the only possible way to get to Chukotka is by an airplane), you can expect to find expensive goods in Chukotka. And although one is expected to pay high prices, the people of Chukotka could expect nothing more than an average (if not pretty bad) quality of the goods.
Being a remote area as it is, we might have wondered: what is it really like to live in Chukotka?
Sasha Leahovcenco, a Soviet-born photographer who is currently residing in Montreal, Canada ventured all the way through Chukotka in 2011 and in March 2013 to take photographs of the Chukchis (the natives of Chukotka) in hopes to give out their messages and aspirations to the world; a journey, which actually turned out to be a more profound discovery of life for Sasha himself.
On his first trip in 2011, Sasha had the opportunity to visit and photograph the villages, churches, hospitals for children suffering from tubercolosis, and a tundra for reindeer herders in an attempt of doing the “Help-Potrait” project which aimed to take pictures of the people who could not afford a camera.
Two years later in 2013, Sasha went there for the second time but now with reasons more than just taking pictures: to also develop a more in-depth understanding towards the tribes of Chukotka and to return the favor by giving them various gifts.
As this second trip demanded higher costs than the first one, Sasha put this project up in a fund-raising website, Kickstarters. The initial target for this project was $9,500, but the support of people all around the world was unexpectedly high and Sasha succesfully gathered $10,062 solely from this website.
The photo collection of this project can be seen in Sasha’s blog as well as the story behind it from the words of Sasha himself.
This project actually reminded me once again that this world is waiting for us to explore as there are still many remote areas aside from Chukotka whose beauty has never been captured, and how one lifetime really is not enough for us to be able to see everything this world has to offer.
Text by Siti Hartinah Putri
