Permafrost
Since 2019, Natalya has been retracing the Great North route, the one of her childhood, to reach the Saami tundras on the Kola Peninsula in Russia, close to Finland and Norway. In 2022, she discovered Yakutia in Eastern Siberia and its indigenous populations, the Evenki reindeer herders and the more sedentary Yakuts, who raise cows and horses. After a few years, her photographic project branched out: the entire Arctic is now in the lens of the Russo-French photographer, who is currently working in the Canadian Northwest Territories.
Gradually, Natalya Saprunova’s images also began to incorporate scientists, who turn these isolated and remote areas into their grounds for experimentation, sampling sediment and permafrost. Summer temperatures are rising, the eternal snows are melting, the oceans are warming… Indeed, the permafrost contained in Arctic soils is melting more and more, releasing large quantities of greenhouse gasses which amplify global warming. Between dawn and dusk, the faded colors of Saprunova’s photographs express the concerns of these communities.
