OUT-OF-THE-WAY project was created on the far away territories of the Extreme North of Russia, where bad accessibility and isolation, special relationship with nature and following the century-long ways of life involve unique mythology of the region where the fictional things are very often more important than modern reality. These lands are immersed into the flow of their own life activity, where the past and the present surprisingly interlace.
My ancestors were hereditary hunters in a small settlement near Nizhnyaya Tunguska River. Almost 300 years ago they came to colonize Siberia, then assimilated into the Evenkis and founded a village in taiga. They lived in an old house as a large family with more than 15 children. Nowadays the population of the village is 130 people, and all of them are distant relatives: those who are not brothers, are related in a neighbourly way.
Life of this part of my family — my father’s siblings and numerous cousins and nephews — has not changed for centuries in that remote area surrounded with pristine wilderness. Modern civilization penetrates slowly and fragmentarily in there, it is intricately woven into the local way of life. The closest town is 300 km away, and the transport connection functions only in winter time. Local and family legends and traditions are still mighty in the settlement.
Project OUT-OF-THE-WAY by Elena Anosova has been awarded with First Place in Story category at Photogrvphy Grant 2016.
Originally hailing from the picturesque region of Baikal, artist Elena Anosova (born in 1983) is currently based in Moscow and Irkutsk. Anosova graduated from the The Rodchenko ArtSchool, Moscow, Russia in 2016. Anosova’s work is centered around lives of women in closed institutions, isolation, social stigmatization. The impulse of research of such communities arose in a reflection of her teenage period spent at the closed rehabilitation boarding school. Also Elena Anosova works with subjects of borders, identity and collective memory in the territory of Siberia, Extreme North and Russian Far East. Anosova was recently awarded the 1-st place in Portraits – Hellerau Photography Award, Spot Light Award at the V annual World.Report Award – Documenting Humanity and won Center Project Launch Grant. Her dummy Section is in Shortlist MACK First Book Award 2016.
Website: anosova.com
