Stories from Russian Lapland

A book by Andrey Gordasevich
2021

The Kola Peninsula is often referred to as Russian Lapland. It is a land where life is predominantly lived in shades of snow-white, and where the main season is winter.

For me, one of the most important themes in photography is the microcosm of each person that can be observed during those brief chance meetings. These photographs can exist independently as single images. However, taken as a whole, they form a patchwork portrait which conveys the spirit of the place. Each section of fabric is sewn together until, at a specific moment, a complete picture takes shape.

The characters appearing in the mosaic that forms this book are completely unconnected to one another, and many appear randomly. However, when brought together in this way, they create a rough, hand-drawn atlas of Russian Lapland, with their stories adding details not to be found in the images.

Andrey Gordasevich

The Kola Peninsula is often referred to as Russian Lapland. It is a land where life is predominantly lived in shades of snow-white, and where the main season is winter.

of the place. Each section of fabric is sewn together until, at a specific moment, a complete picture takes shape.

Andrey Gordasevich

“

It is a life which moves at a slow pace, yet is teeming with the energy of a thousand small errands. It is a life which may appear to be eventless to an outside observer, to a person unaware of how many shades of snow exist. But this “eventless survival” is not a concept familiar to Gordasevich. To him, these people’s lives stretch out to the horizon – a northern blue thread which he also photographs so that from point to line, each technique of modern art is employed to lend colour to his story about the people living between eras in the lands of Russian Lapland.

— Irina Chmyreva, Senior Researcher at the Russian Academy of Arts,
Art Director of the PhotoVisa biennale of contemporary photography

Stories from Russian Lapland
Photography
by Andrey Gordasevich

Published by Leica Camera Russia

1000 copies
English\Russian
Hardcover, 192 pages
Arctic Volume Ivory 150 gsm

Video presentation Order your copy

This book is part of the collection of PhotoVisa International Photography Festival and Central European House of Photography in Bratislava

Marina
Kirovsk

“

This is my third year at the hotel. Before then, I worked in healthcare for 33 years. I was a nurse. I was born here, in Kirovsk. I could have moved to St. Petersburg, but if I left, my parents would have been left here alone. The climate here is pretty tough. Two years ago, we had snowmen here on 26 June, with skis. As a healthcare worker, I wish you health, and for everyone to be healthy.

Lev Timofeevich
Revda

“

I had a training day today. I’m exhausted, in all honesty. I did 50 kilometres on my skis. I’m preparing for the marathon in Murmansk. I’ve been slowly building up, and now I’ve got to 50 kilometres. I’m not bothered about the time any more. I mean, I’m 80 years old. What matters is making the distance.

I’m an athlete – I did downhill skiing, and cross-country skiing, too. Once this event took place – The Tundra Collective Farm Prize it was called. It was 30 kilometres on skis. I had no idea what long distances meant. You had to do two circuits of 15 kilometres. I did the first circuit, and the other guys told me to eat and drink something. But I was like, “No time,” and went off on the second circuit. I managed another seven–eight kilometres, and then hit the so-called wall. It’s a term used by runners – that feeling of someone coming up behind you and “bam!” – bashing you on the head with a plank. Your strength is gone, your muscles go into spasm, and you want to stuff your face with food as if you hadn’t eaten in a month. I trudged along, ate some snow, and tore off some bark from a birch tree.

By the time I dragged myself over the finish line, only one referee was still there – he had been waiting for me, and swore when I made it finally... I got a medal for my “will to win”. It was then that I got the idea to do marathons. It was 1976 – I was 36 at the time.

Vladimir
Yuri Gagarin Museum, Korzunovo

“

I’m a pilot myself. I flew from 1975 to 1998. An air regiment was based here until ’98. In ’91, we decided to do something to mark the 30-year anniversary of the first manned spaceflight. We reconstructed this little building ourselves, and scoured the earth for exhibits detailing Gagarin’s life, for press cuttings, copies. Zvyozdny Gorodok [Star City – ed.] helped out a bit, and so here we are now with this pretty comprehensive exhibition.

Gagarin came here in 1957, after completing his studies. He took his first steps as a professional pilot here. He served here for three years, until 1960. Committees for all the air combat regiments selected 3,000 candidates for the flight into space. These were then whittled down to 20, and then to 6. Yuri made it into this group. To this day, he’s one of the most well-known people on the planet. We commissioned this statue specifically. We haven’t forgotten Gagarin, we remember him. On 9 March he would have turned 85.

Ksenia
Umba

“

I lived for a few years in Germany. I got married and had two children there. Things panned out with me coming back here, with the children. My husband chose our son’s name – Joel, and I chose our daughter’s – Elena... This is the largest amethyst egg in the world. How is amethyst formed? Inside sandstone – it’s not at all static. Tectonic fractures formed, and a silicon dioxide solution rose along them from the depths of the earth and crystallised over the course of 400 million years. So, our amethyst here is 400 million years old.

Konstantin
Kirovsk

“

I spent my childhood near the border with Norway. A lot of battles had been fought there, and bullet casings were the children’s main form of currency. That was especially true of MG or Mauser rifle bullets, which had often survived in excellent condition.

We once had the amazing luck of finding an unopened ammunition box, containing a wealth of yellow coloured, fresh bullets. Me and my friend found it when we were in year six at school. We split it 50-50, and I buried my half in the forest not far from the town of Zapolyarny. Then me and my parents moved away, and I never got the opportunity to go back. But in 2005, I did finally get to stop by at Zapolyarny again, due to some work to repair an expedition vehicle.

I had some free time left over, so I went into the forest. And despite the fact that there had been a fire and some things had changed, I located the rock I used to mark where I buried the bullets. I unearthed my secret boyhood stash, which is now displayed at a museum. Thank God these bullets were never fired at anybody during the war.

More photos and stories on 192 pages
Order your copy of the book here

This publication was made possible
through the support of Leica Camera Russia

The author is grateful to all those who opened themselves up to
him, both visually and with their words, and who entrusted him with their stories: Katya, Zina, Stanislav, Lyudmila Ivanovna, Ekaterina, Irina, Ksenia, Joel, Konstantin, Marina, Yuri, Lev Timofeevich, Nikolay, Semyon, Valentina Fedorovna, Sasha, Lyuba, Andrey, Igor Anatolevich, Vladimir, Tatiana.

Special thanks to Victor Kuplevatskiy, without whom the layout of the book would never look this way.

Many thanks to Konstantin Kushnir and Gennady Boev for all their help and companionship.

Thanks to Leica S007 + Vario-Elmar-S 30–90 f/3.5–5.6 ASPH.,
to Dr. Andreas Kaufmann and the team at Leica Camera Russia,
especially to Klaus Hauer and Elena Zhukovich,
for their friendship and support.

All these and other images are available as fine art prints

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