Faces of Siberia: 35 stunning portraits of Yakuts, Ulchi and Negidals

Nine years ago, I packed a backpack and went on a trip around the world. Since then, I have visited 84 countries. During the journey, I realized that the most amazing part of the world is people.

Three years ago, I came up with the idea of a photo project "The World in Faces", which would tell about the beauty and diversity of the world through portraits of ordinary people. Especially people from those distant places where local traditions and culture are still alive. Since then I have taken thousands of pictures all over the world. For the last six months I have been photographing people from the indigenous peoples of Siberia.

Siberia is huge: it is almost twice the size of Australia, 30% larger than the USA, Canada or the whole of Europe. This is one of the last unexplored areas in the world. Of course, everyone has heard that Siberia is very cold and sparsely inhabited, but what do we know about the people who live there?

In six months, I have traveled 25 thousand kilometers alone to visit remote corners of Siberia: from Baikal to the shores of the Sea of Japan, from the boundless steppes of Mongolia to the coldest place on earth — Yakutia. And all this in order to capture the faces and traditions of local indigenous people from different nations. There are large ethnic groups that predominate in their regions, but at the same time many nationalities are on the verge of extinction: up to the point that only 100 people remain in them. The outside world knows almost nothing about them.

Orochon.