This is a portrait of Lena, young Nganasan Indigenous woman in traditional clothing ❤️❄️ I took it in the Arctic part of Siberia.
Lena lives in Taymyr Peninsula - the northernmost inhabited area of the Eurasian continent, further North from there is only the Arctic Ocean. Snow is covering the land for approximately 8 months a year with average winter time temperatures hovering around -40C/F for months. The polar night, when the sun doesn't show up at all, lasts about 45 days a year. This year it started 29 November and finished 13 January, just a few days ago. Today the sunrise was at 12:11 and the sunset at 14:24 local time.
Lena is one of the 862 Nganasan Indigenous People of the Arctic part of Northern Siberia. Nganasan People are considered the northernmost Indigenous ethnic group of the world (together with Dolgan People of Taymyr). The Nganasans are an Indigenous Samoyedic people that are thought to be the descendants of Paleo-Siberian peoples. The Nganasans have traditionally been semi-nomadic people whose main form of subsistence was wild reindeer hunting, in contrast to the Nenets, who have herded reindeer. According to the latest available official statistics in 2010 Nganasan language sadly disappears - it's spoken by 125 people only. According to UNESCO Nganasan language is Severely Endangered.
The traditional reindeer rovduga clothing you see in this photo is unique, made by an elderly master. It takes over 2 years to make, there is almost none of it left these days. When a Nganasan man/woman passes away, this person is taken to the endless open space of a snowy tundra and left there on the sledge in their full regalia. The relatives will never come back to that place again.
The World in Faces photo project by Alexander Khimushin. Diversity of traditional cultures of the world through the portraits of Indigenous People 🌍❤️📸🙏
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