This Photo Story Takes Us Into The Lives Of The Reindeer Tribe Of Siberia

Vijesh Kumar & Navak Gupta

Even though connectivity is an integral part of the 21st century, it is clearly not so for every community all over the world. Two Indian photographers, Vijesh (based in Munich) and his friend Navak Gupta (based in Hyderabad), have addressed this phenomenon through a visual/photographic documentation of two similar reindeer tribes – the Tsaatan reindeer herders of Mongolia, and the the reindeer herders of the Yamal Peninsula in north-western Russia (Siberia), the Nenets.

What is interesting about these two tribes is the fact that they had lived similar lives on similar terrains in opposite sides of the world. After having composed a photobook on the Tsaatan of Mongolia, they have distributed those images among the Nenets with the hope of establishing a connection between the two communities who had never seen or heard of one another despite having lived by the same ethos. A gruelling 13 hour long journey into the frozen Tundra from Salekhard took them to the Nenets’ camp.

Descendants of people inhabiting Siberia, the Nenets are reindeer pastoralists, fishermen and hunters of the Tundra. They have put up a brave front against Soviet collectivisation of reindeer herding and Stalin’s efforts of ethnic cleansing, only to encounter a threat of a different kind, in the form of climate change and depletion of natural resources. We are delighted to bring you a photo story highlighting their daily lives and livelihood, as well as their nomadic lifestyle.

Could you name photographers who have inspired you in your visual anthropological projects?

My biggest inspirations have been the works of explorers like Paul Nicklen and Jimmy Nelson,who have travelled to the remotest places of the world to take photographs that inspire conservation.

A Nenet child

Describe your creative process and the purpose with which you create.

As a Travel/Landscape photographer, I want to reach out to the remotest parts of the world and live with the locals to learn,understand and experience their daily lives. In the process, I want to produce captivating images of nature, as well as stories of the local inhabitants that make people think about the world around them and inspire conservation, understanding and activism.

A Nenet woman migrating with Reindeers in the tundra

Is there anything that had a deep impact on you with regard to landscape photography?

It was Paul Nicklen’s Ted Talk, “Animal Tales from Icy Wonderlands” that impacted me deeply. In this talk,he describes his encounter with a leopard seal and with his beautiful images makes his case for Global Warming