The Arctic!

Just one word makes many on the planet Earth joyously respond. The Arctic as a call for travel, as an impetus to research work, as a dream of something incredible and, for many, unattainable.

A miracle happened to me in 2014, when on August 8 with the expedition, we left Arkhangelsk on the ship "Mangazeya " ;. Finally my own element! What a blessing to see and hear the White and Barents seas, and ahead of the mighty Arctic Ocean! See Cape Desire on the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya! Far and inaccessible islands of the archipelago of Franz Josef Land! After all, how many lives of travelers and pioneers they have stolen! As an artist and as a photographer, I eagerly and enthusiastically caught every instant of existence in bright sunsets, ripples of mighty waves, invocatory cries of birds.

Arctic! White on white! All the nuances of a gray, white, sunset sky over white space. Glowing with extraordinary light, color and a vortex, funnel-like shape of the cloud above the water and over the distant blue islands. Those are pink, then white rounded surfaces of glacial domes in the rays of the sun from low lead clouds. Silence! Blizzard! What a joy to see the power of the elements.

A person in the Arctic is a long-term patience and humility in anticipation of the weather. Ability to live in a closed circle of people in a closed space without selfishness, depressions, passions and harmful emotions, without causing conflicts. For many, the most difficult thing is to be without contact with loved ones, close ones, in a break with the life of the Big Earth for a long time. And even when the cigarette ran out!

Life itself urged the Government of the Russian Federation to remember the Arctic In the mid-1930s the Soviet Union launched a frontal offensive to the North. For the national economy, for the most important scientific research it was necessary, and now especially, further study of the vast water area of ??the Central Arctic basin. In today's political and economic environment, our presence in high latitudes is vitally important for Russia. A new structure has appeared - FBGU " The Russian Arctic National Park & ??raquo; Founder of the FBG & "The National Park & ??the Russian Arctic" "; is the Government of the Russian Federation. The founder exercises his powers through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation. The birthday of the reserve is considered to be April 23, 1994, then the order of the Russian government approved the reserve status of the Franz Josef Land archipelago and part of the sea area. Under the land part of the reserve this document covers the whole territory of the archipelago - 1 635 300 ha. The total area of ??the specially protected natural area is 4 200 000 hectares. Today, the matter of national importance was entrusted to. FBGO " National Park & ??the Russian Arctic Region " ;. OJSC & Rosgeology "; won a tender to clean up the Arctic and entrusted ZAO " Arctic-Consulting-Service "; recruitment and technological work to eliminate environmental damage in the contaminated areas of the islands of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. An unprecedented and necessary work was initiated from 2012 to 2014. Director of the National Park & ??la Russkaya Arktika "; Roman Viktorovich Ershov and his co-workers selected volunteer students for garbage collection and participated in the works themselves. I am happy that I was an eyewitness of the events and was able to convey the strain of labor in photos and pictures. Constantine Gusev and Fedor Tishchenko created video films transferring their vision of what is happening with modern methods.

The country has spent huge funds to clean up the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago ..

Only love for your work and kindness help everything in life! So it happened to me. Andrey Zayonchek and Viktor Tishchenko of OAO Rosgeologiya "; felt my misfortune from the stories of burned pictures and drawings made in Antarctica. Andrei fought for my participation in the expedition. He was heard and included the artist Slavina Lilia Petrovna in the expedition. By the kindness of the heart, and maybe understand that the artist in the Arctic will create something more than a display of the mysterious place of the Earth only in photography and then & hellip ;. When there is no ice in the Arctic, there will be a living testimony of the beauty and color of the Arctic in the pictures. Business and passionately in love with the Arctic, attentive and very sincere Sergey Gavrilovich Kamyshanov himself accompanied us on the road. Although every moment and hour of it cost gold!

ZAO " Arctic-Consulting-Service ";, which is managed by SG. Kamyshanov and the Polar Foundation & 'in the throat "; are engaged in servicing the entire water area of ??the Arctic: the work of ships, the delivery of personnel, its supply, unloading and loading of goods. machinery and equipment to the islands; Hayes, the island of Queen Alexandra Land, the island of Graham Bell of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago, to the New Earth, North and other important sites. Ensuring the construction of the complex "Omega" raquo; on Alexandra Island for "Gazprom" "; . I witnessed how, in the hardest ice conditions, unprecedented in the last 28 years, vessels have been operating to deliver equipment and take on board 5600 tons of waste accumulated during the previous economic activity of a person.

I was really helped to live and work on the island. In the kitchen, where I wrote pictures, curiosity led everyone; and students and workers, many of them have repeatedly returned and some have worked in the Arctic for more than thirty years. I saw the joy in the eyes that now people on the Great Earth will see their Arctic at the exhibition. Sometimes it was not easy to get and work, stand for 3-4 hours when creating sketches. With gusty wind and cold, the sketch-book was taken down and oil paints rolled into a ball .. But there were friends from the Russian Arctic "; and such as the head Alexander Popov from "AKS", which understood the desire to create a picture in any weather and contributed to work in the bays in the parking of ships. In extreme conditions, hard and heroically, day and night, in the snow, water, wind working people show their best qualities and maybe that's why I fell in love with the Arctic and its fans.

For two months of work on the island of Alexandra, I have never seen an indifferent person. How much pain for the Arctic, left after the 90s! Everyone with whom it was necessary to talk about life in the Arctic: on the ship " Mangazeya "; with the captain, the starpop or with the workers from the islands of the ZFI, each expressed a partial attitude to what is happening with the meteorological and polar stations, the fishing and marine fleet. shortage and destiny of ships, their technical condition, lack of special equipment for the Arctic and the disappearance of traditional industry and activities in the North. As a consequence, unemployment in the Arkhangelsk region and hence in the Arctic - a simple taxi driver from Arkhangelsk was distressed.

In the past, the thirst for knowledge of new lands led me first through Central Asia. On the mountains of the Tien Shan, along its rivers, towns and deserts. The Himalayas, the Tibetan religion and culture for the last four years have become a real discovery. Cultural shock experienced from Europe. Everything was interesting. How they live, work, rest, what people like and dislike in capitals and small villages. So it was in the Alps, the Pyrenees, in Sardinia. Everywhere recorded her impression of work on the nature in the drawing or watercolor. Since my childhood, I dreamed of becoming an oceanologist. They say thoughts attract events to your life. It so happened that it was possible to work for seven months in the North Seas, in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, in the Falkland Islands and the South Georgia Islands, on the Antarctic Peninsula from October 2002 to May 2003 on the ship " Academician Joffe " ;. Self-confidence was born in a collision with the elements and the animal world. Sometimes in seconds, in different weather conditions, often on the run, you had to sketch and photograph icebergs, penguins, whales. The nature of the researcher led to the study in drawing and painting of the nature of ice, icebergs, natural relief, animal habits. The study of color is the peak of the knowledge of hard-to-reach places on Earth. By the color of the waves I determine the name of the sea or ocean and the age of the iceberg. Therefore, the dream of the Arctic "unrecognized tempting and tender as the bride "; from the words of the polar explorer Victor, originated in the plans for life after the fire in the workshop, when more than 300 works created in the Antarctic burned down.

Why am I eager for the Edge of Light? Any country and movement in space is an opening. There are no unnecessary and ugly places on the Earth. I want to convey and leave the World in painting, graphics and photographs fragile creations of nature in their luxury of color and form before they disappear from the face of the Earth. It's like a mission that I put on myself. This service to the idea of ??preserving the World.