Themes

The craftsmanship of many northern indigenous peoples has developed particular forms of the art of carving. Carved figures by the Itelmen Aleksandr Pritchin from Kovran are illustrated here, as well as works by Anatoli Solodiakov, of Koryak-Evenk origin, and Egor Chechulin, a Koryak artist from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. Anatoli Donkan stems from a Nanai community and now lives in Germany where he continues to produce carvings while also engaging with another traditional activity of his people, the sewing of clothing from fish skin.

Children and teenagers were encouraged by indigenous educators to make drawings for exhibitions and book publications. Young Kamchadals, Itelmen and Nanai were thus offered the possibility to show the world as they see it.

Modern media are particularly well-suited to artistic exchange and mutual stimulation. In her film “Treasure Hunt“, the sculptress Gaby Schulze takes a look at Sami landscapes and mythology. The video artist Jaroslava Panáková presents impressions from Chukotka in her 5 films “Tundra“ and “Whaling“. Thomas R. Miller completed the video project “Shamanic Journey“ for the exhibition “Shamans of Siberia“. During the same exhibition, a group of artists from St. Petersburg and Germany showed objects and pictures on shamanic themes. Alexander Morawitz does artistic representations of Kamchatka landscapes through the use of images and sound.

Dancing and singing play an important role in everyday life, but also during the special, festive occasions of indigenous communities. These traditions have been amply documented for the Koryak, Even and Itelmen.

These genres have served as a support for the choreographic staging of their art of dancing and singing which young people see as contributing to their identity-building. During several tours in Germany the mainly young members of the ensembles El’vel’, Nulgur, Shkolnye Gody and Or’yakan met with clear appreciation of their culture.

Some of these tours were prepared during workshops on Kamchatka, where ways of integrating dancing and singing into pedagogical work among youths was discussed with dancers and indigenous educators.