Justin Jin: The Zone of Absolute Discomfort
The Arctic has become a strategic priority for Russia. But, as Justin Jin has found, the region has been plagued by environmental and social crises
Author: Olivier Laurent
"The Siberia of Siberia," says Justin Jin, referring to the icy wastelands that make up Russia's Arctic region. "Under Stalin, the Soviet Union built gulags, not only because it was freezing there, but also because the prisoners would mine for coal, iron, palladium and even gold."
But when the Soviet Union collapsed, the mines and the communities that grew out of them were abandoned. "There was both an environmental crisis - because the Soviets had no regard for nature - and a social crisis. Suddenly there were no jobs and the infrastructure was crumbling, creating new social problems - divorce, drug use, alcoholism and teenage pregnancies."
For six years, Jin - whose work will be shown at Visa pour l'Image in September - has been documenting how the Arctic people have survived in a "landscape of bleak, haunting beauty".
Jin was living in Moscow when he first conceived the project in 2009 with a freelancer for The Guardian. "As a pilot project, we took a 40-hour train journey from Moscow to Vorkuta to document this dying community. It was an amazing experience to watch out of the window, seeing everything change from day to night to day again as the trees became just snow - the tundra," he tells BJP.
"I was deeply impressed by what I saw. I came back very excited about the project and I wanted to carry on, but at the time my freelancer became more committed to The Guardian." So Jin went back, five times, on his own.
Until 2011, Jin was solely documenting the abandoned communities. But there was another side he felt was essential to the story. "The Arctic was recently rediscovered when big pockets of oil and gas were found," he says. "It's probably the biggest gas field in the world, and with commodity prices going up, Moscow now sees the Arctic as strategic."
But, while the Soviet Union used to send people there with their families, building schools and hospitals, today they only send men: experts from Germany, France, Norway, Moscow and the US, who go in for just weeks at a time. "They work in shifts, non-stop for four weeks, and then leave," says Jin.
"This way of working brings nothing to local communities because the gas fields are not necessarily located where the cities were built. Often they are in the middle of nowhere or even offshore."
What you end up with are rotten villages where only the sick, the disabled and alcoholics are left. "The gas companies often try to avoid these villages, instead building their own bases, resembling gated communities."
It hasn't always been easy to document this region, Jin tells BJP. "You're hitchhiking from one depressing town to another, being harassed by the police. At times you feel very lonely and you often want to give up."
But with the support he received from Geo magazine, which allowed him to gain access to the gas companies' communities, and the Magnum Foundation, which funded part of his project, he was able to continue his work. "Their support gave me the will to go on."
For six years, Jin - whose work will be shown at Visa pour l'Image in September - has been documenting how the Arctic people have survived in a "landscape of bleak, haunting beauty".
Jin was living in Moscow when he first conceived the project in 2009 with a freelancer for The Guardian. "As a pilot project, we took a 40-hour train journey from Moscow to Vorkuta to document this dying community. It was an amazing experience to watch out of the window, seeing everything change from day to night to day again as the trees became just snow - the tundra," he tells BJP.
"I was deeply impressed by what I saw. I came back very excited about the project and I wanted to carry on, but at the time my freelancer became more committed to The Guardian." So Jin went back, five times, on his own.
Until 2011, Jin was solely documenting the abandoned communities. But there was another side he felt was essential to the story. "The Arctic was recently rediscovered when big pockets of oil and gas were found," he says. "It's probably the biggest gas field in the world, and with commodity prices going up, Moscow now sees the Arctic as strategic."
But, while the Soviet Union used to send people there with their families, building schools and hospitals, today they only send men: experts from Germany, France, Norway, Moscow and the US, who go in for just weeks at a time. "They work in shifts, non-stop for four weeks, and then leave," says Jin.
"This way of working brings nothing to local communities because the gas fields are not necessarily located where the cities were built. Often they are in the middle of nowhere or even offshore."
What you end up with are rotten villages where only the sick, the disabled and alcoholics are left. "The gas companies often try to avoid these villages, instead building their own bases, resembling gated communities."
It hasn't always been easy to document this region, Jin tells BJP. "You're hitchhiking from one depressing town to another, being harassed by the police. At times you feel very lonely and you often want to give up."
But with the support he received from Geo magazine, which allowed him to gain access to the gas companies' communities, and the Magnum Foundation, which funded part of his project, he was able to continue his work. "Their support gave me the will to go on."
For more on Justin Jin's work, visit justinjin.com.
Image © Justin Jin
Image © Justin Jin
Image © Justin Jin
Image © Justin Jin
Read more: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/project/2201023/justin-jin-the-zone-of-absolute-discomfort#ixzz2QuQYbLhq
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