The magazine of the photo-essay
August 2018 back issue
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film maker
by Sarah Michelle Riisager
Frozen is a visual poem from my travel in Yakutia, which also serves as a survey of
this remote place that few of us are familiar with and many have not seen.
Yakutia is a land of contrasts as the weather fluctuated between freezing and minus
60 degrees, the Yakutians I visited in their homes were warm and hospitable –
showing me an openness and love I have rarely experienced before. I fell in love
with the harsh nature, the cold and frozen landscape and above all, the people. I
was fascinated by the way these young people grow up in villages with only 300
inhabitants and where the winter lasts for 9 months. In these closely-knit
communities, people come together as they withdraw from the outside world en
masse and form a unique communal bond, at the core of intimacy.
My photography has always been both curious and sensitive. This curiosity is
something I have chosen to explore, interpret, and share with the viewer.
I want to be intimate with the people I meet, to really feel and discover them. I want
to fall in love standing right on the edge, embracing the uncertain. In my work I have always focused on being personal,
intuitive, and humble. I focus on the relationship between people and being present – present in a world I find difficult to
understand but also a world I want to understand.
Frozen is an insight into my universe, a universe built on wonder, loneliness, love, and fascination. With this project I want
to openly invite the viewer to partake in this journey and to share my universe so that they can create their own story
within mine.
Tatyana.
Storks.
Veins.
Spira and Lenya.
Ice Bird.
Hand.
Fox.
Ice Mine.
Girl.
Pink door.
Dog.
Artur.
Lida and Olia.
Egor.
Blood.
Ice Sculpture.
Rose.
Chandelier.
Boy and Cat.
Boy and Cat.
