Playing On The 67th Parallel

To photograph the sunrise, I got dressed and pushed aside the thick, frozen hide that served as the door. A blizzard was raging outside. The tribe’s only child—a boy no older than six—was playing alone on the frozen lake with his sled. He dragged the sled across the ice, then slid back toward the center of the lake. He repeated this ten times... It was a surreal moment.

In the Nenets tribe, children attend state-funded school from ages 7 to 16. After that, they choose between embracing their traditional nomadic life or forging their own path.

Arctic 2024

salestani