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Norilsk: Otherworldly photos of an Arctic city

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(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)
In our latest Through the Lens, Russian photographer Elena Chernyshova explores what it’s like to live in a city 400km north of the Arctic Circle.
Polar Night

Polar Night

“After two months, I started to… panic that the sun would never come back.” (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Taken over seven months in 2012 to 2013 as part of her Days of Night/Nights of Day project, Russian photographer Elena Chernyshova’s images reveal what it’s like to live in one of the world’s most isolated cities. In Norilsk, winter lasts nine months – and during the polar night the sun doesn’t rise for two months. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Polar_Nights_2.mp4

Chernyshova’s mother lived above the Arctic Circle as a child, making the photographer keen to explore what it was like to live in such extreme conditions. In this video, she explains how it felt to live in total darkness – and total daylight. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Edit: Paul Wheeler/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Located 400km (249 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, Norilsk is one of the coldest cities on Earth. The average temperature in winter is -30C, and it can dip below -55C. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Extremes.mp4

“The main idea was to talk about the adaptation to this environment,” says Chernyshova in this video. She describes how inhabitants of Norilsk have sun lamps, and cultivate plants, to counteract the harsh winters. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Edit: Paul Wheeler/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Inhabitants of Norilsk crave greenery during the nine-month winter, turning their apartments into oases. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

People in Norilsk go ice swimming even on days when the air feels like -40C – warming up in spots heated with steam from the power plant. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

There is a solarium in most buildings. “People go quite often, it isn’t a luxury.” (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Norilsk was designed in the 1930s by architects imprisoned in Stalin’s camps, and built by gulag prisoners. The earliest buildings are Stalinist in style. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Anna

Anna

Anna Vasilievna Bigus, 88 when photographed by Chernyshova, was sent to the gulag in Norilsk at the age of 19, spending a decade there. She stayed in the city after she came out, because she’d lost all contact with her family. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Gulags.mp4

“Some sources say that during 20 years of existence of these camps, around 500,000 people passed through them,” says Chernyshova in this video. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Norilsk citizens call the rest of the world ‘the continent’. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Remote.mp4

Norilsk has no ground links with the rest of the world. Chernyshova describes its isolation in this video. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

Ghost Building

Ghost Building

Norilsk has several buildings that were never completed, after funding ran out. They are nicknamed ‘ghost buildings’. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Ghost_Buildings.mp4

In this video, Chernyshova talks about ‘ghost buildings’ – as well as buildings that have been abandoned due to the melting of permafrost. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

Gostinka

Gostinka

Pre-fabricated apartments – called ‘Gostinka’ – were built as temporary dwellings in the 1960s – but many are still inhabited today. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Gostinka.mp4

Chernyshova explains why even big families continue to live in ‘Gostinka’, many of which are just 12 sq m in size. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Rich deposits were discovered in the area at the start of the 20th Century – just outside Norilsk is the biggest metallurgical and mines complex in the world. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Norilsk is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Acid rain has caused vegetation in areas surrounding the city to die. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Elena_Pollution.mp4

Although data on pollution levels is varied, “there is a strong influence on the health of people,” says Chernyshova in this video. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova/Camera: Andrey Lapidus/Producer: Fiona Macdonald)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

Despite the hardship of life in Norilsk, says Chernyshova, “people are so friendly and so joyful”. (Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

(Credit: Elena Chernyshova)

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