CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/17/2015

Arctic

Featured photograph, from Russian photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva's Tiksi series (2010-12), is reproduced from Louisiana Museum's new survey, Arctic. Arbugaeva writes,"After the fall of the USSR, the government stopped financing its Northern projects, and many little towns were left to survive on their own. In 1993 my family, along with many others, boarded up the windows of our home and left for a bigger city. I was 8 when we left, and ever since I have never been able to forget Tiksi. The scenery, the fluorescent colors of the northern lights and the moments of pure childhood imagination made a lasting impression on me. I have always wanted to be that little girl again. In 2010, for the first time in 17 years, I went back to Tiksi. The scenery was still there, but the town was nearly abandoned. I met Tanya, a young girl who reminded me of myself when I was a kid. She had a similar fascination with the sea and the tundra, and a similar urge to explore her environment. Soon after I met Tanya, she told me how much she admired Jacques-Yves Cousteau – she wore a red hat as a tribute to her hero. She quickly became my friend and my guide to Tiksi. Soon Tanya’s family – just like my own 19 years ago – will leave Tiksi behind. They see no future in the small town and plan to move to a larger city. I wanted to capture Tiksi, both the way it really is, and the way it exists in a child’s imagination. These photographs are like postcards – nostalgic postcards from the imagination of a young girl in Tiksi."