Wanderlust Presents: Evgenia Arbugaeva

Hello Evgenia Arbugaeva,

“Once upon a time in Siberia, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in a warm bed in a small town, a little girl woke up from a dream.  It was morning, but it was still dark out, for the little town was so far North that the sun would not show itself for many months. They called this the Polar Night.”

Tiksi, 2011

Growing up on Siberia’s Arctic coastline, Evgenia Arbugaeva’s series Tiksi, is a nostalgic recollection of a vanishing childhood. After the fall of the USSR, Evgenia’s family along with many others, boarded up the windows of their homes and left for the possibility of more. Tiksi was a childhood filled with a theatrically temperate landscapes, white-out winters with undefined horizons, and an aurora borealis prone night sky. The scenery, palette, and moments of pure imagination made a lasting impression on Evgenia.

Tiksi, 2011

18 years later she returned to photograph her childhood home. It was a voyage of nostalgia, to recapture the mythical perceptions from memories hinging on fiction. Unfortunately Tiksi was now nearly a abandoned after grave economic decline, and Evgenia struggled with manifesting the past. Returning to New York, she found only one photo captured that fleeting romanticism -a picture taken behind a young girl tossing stones.

Tiksi, 2011

Three months later, Evgenia returned, found the girl, Tanya, and started photographing her. An instant bond was formed over a Jacque Cousteau fascination for exploration, as Tanya dons a red cap in homage to the French pioneer.

Tiksi, 2011

Evgenia followed and documented her through sea and tundra,  cohorts in a fascination and adventure. Highlighting the extraordinary in the ordinary life of a young girl,  Evgenia’s own construction of memories were recalled once again.

Tiksi, 2011

There is an inherent relatability to Evgenia’s process as an image maker. Like many, we are also collectors and archivers of memories. Photography acts as an anchor to these uncanny moments that strongly imprint on us. Like Evgenia, this insatiable curiosity for the world may never subside…nor should it.

Tiksi, 2011

It is the possibility of things unexplainable, yet still possible that drives us to make images.

Tiksi, 2011

This past fall, Tanya’s family, like Evgenia’s left Tiksi. Hope for a better future has driven many families to move away. The story and series of Tiksi, much like that of both girls, has now become a memento.  Frozen in time, it is a cathartic ode to a disappearing town by the cold sea.

Tiksi, 2011

“Tanya, her sister Olga, and I at the abandoned TV antenna just a little outside of the town. This is a very cold and quiet night, so quiet that our crunchy steps on the snow feel like an intervention. We try to keep our voices low, as though we are afraid to wake somebody up.

Tanya whispered: ”Look, I think Aurora Borealis is about to appear on the sky… shhhhh…here it comes.”

Tiksi, 2011

Evgenia studied at the Moscow Academy of Photography as well as the International Center of Photography in NYC.  She now works as a freelance photographer between Russia and New York.

Tiksi, 2011

To see more of Evgenia Arbugaeva go here: { www.evgeniaarbugaeva.com }