Tompo | By Alexey Vasilyev

Topolinoye village is located in the eastern part of Yakutia (Russian Federation), on the left bank of the Tompo River. The word ‘tompo’ in Even means ‘thread’. The population of the village is about 1000 people. Native people, evens, are representatives of one of the small nations of the North. The village was founded in the 30s of the XX century as a result of collectivization of reindeer herding and fishing farms. Long ago the evens had a nomadic life when were engaged in deer breeding. They were called reindeer people, they were the masters of the mountains and taiga. However, with the advent of Soviet authorities, the evens were brought to a settled lifestyle, due to which the areas of their settlement were reduced, and the family continuity that preserved the language and culture was broken. The traditional economy, which had been developing over the centuries, was completely subordinated to the Soviet system.

Reindeer breeder Grigory Baishev is resting in a tent after lunch. For almost the whole year, the reindeer breeder works in a herd which is in hundreds of kilometers from his native village. It is possible to visit the house two or three times a year during the holidays and the celebration of the Reindeer Herder’s Day.

Participants of the beauty and talent contest are going to the stage of the village club in evening dresses.

Meteorologist Kirill Shelygin is playing with a dog at the Tompo weather station, 30 kms away from Topolinoe.

The youngest son of the hunter Grigory Zamyatin Vadim is in his room.

Women of the folklore ensemble ‘Maranga’ before a performance in a village club. Translated from Even the word ‘maranga’ means ‘rainbow’. Women in the ensemble not only sing, but also sew clothes, shoes, make instruments from deer antlers and hooves.

11th grade student Danil Kirillin at the school lesson. Many high school students, after completing the 9th grade, enter secondary specialized educational institutions. Only few remains to finish their studies.

A stuffed deer head on a motor boat.

The girls are preparing for a wedding in the village.

The coexistence of humans and deer has always been a part of their daily life. The deer was everything for the even: house, transport, food, warm clothes, shoes, bed. The even proverb says: ‘No deer – no even’. If the evens will stop grazing reindeer – they will leave to the city, lose language, forget traditions, assimilate. There is a conflict between the even way of life, culture which is tied to nature and the lifestyle of outer world. The modern world does not always leave enough opportunities for an alternative lifestyle. In spite of everything, reindeer people who lives by the river in harmony with nature, preserve their national identity, dignity and looking forward with hope.

Local young men are performing the Even dance during a concert in a village club.

Osenina Daria Mikhailovna, elder of the Evens, bearer of culture, storyteller and needlewoman, is sitting in the kitchen with her great-granddaughter Alexandra.

Deer sculpture on the Bolshoy Olchan mountain pass of the Yana highway. From here to the village of Topolinoe is about 40 km.

Hunters Grigory Zamyatin and Vasily Sleptsov are spending time in a tent in the evening watching a movie. Electricity and heat in the tent are maintained through an autonomous generator and an ordinary stove.

Reindeer herders are leading the herd to the slaughter near the village of Topolinoye. As a rule, the weakest and oldest reindeers are selected for slaughter.

Wedding walk on the banks of the Tompo River.

Evening in the village of Topolinoye.

In the tent of the hunter Grigory Zamyatin. The reindeer herder wakes up every day early in the morning with the first rays of the sun and goes to graze the reindeer until sunset.

BIO 

Alexey Vasilyev was born in 1985 in the coldest region of Russia – Yakutia. In 2008 graduated from the philological faculty of the Yakut state University. From 2010 to 2019 worked in the children’s republican newspaper “The Youth of the North”. Since 2017 a member of the Russian Union of photographers. In 2018 entered the school of modern photography in St. Petersburg “Dokdokdok”. Features of her work have been published in the The Guardian, National Geographic (Russia), Wired, Calvert Journal, Meduza, It’s Nice That, Takie Dela (Russia), Lenta.ru (Russia), LensCulture, MoscowTimes, MyModernMet and etc. In his documentary works he focuses on the daily life research of people in the far North and their national identity in the global world.

Website https://alexey-vasilyev.com 

Instagram @lekon_v

Photo Essay edited by Alejandra Martínez Moreno