Far in an isolated peninsula in Northern Siberia, a group of elderly women lives. They were once part of a migrating community of reindeer herders, but today, in their old age, they spend most of their days in solitude, isolated from nature and their wandering community.
For days and over many cups of tea, they shared their stories, lullabies, and longings with me.
While men are encouraged to stay within the wandering community as they turn older, the women, often find themselves facing the struggles of old age, alone. They cope with a treacherous body, a fading memory, but mostly, the longing for the sense of belonging.
Their stories were my inspiration in creating this series of images called "Like Last Year's Snow": a pack of reindeer, a boy in a sledge and a distant house - those are real memories they shared with me, captured in the same locations they used to wander in the past, combined with the women's portraits, as each woman is photographed in her apartment; wearing an item she was left with from her wandering days.
By doing so, I was hoping to give a visual representation to those memories they shared with me before those are gone forever.
