The Snow of Yesteryear


  • Photographer
    Oded Wagenstein
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    March 2017

Far in an isolated village in Northern Siberia, a group of women lives. They were part of a migratory community of herders named Nenets, but the women no longer wander. They were outcast by their clan, who believe them to be "too old" to wander with the rest. They now live in permanent housing, cut off from their community. While at the same time, men of the same age or older, are encouraged to continue to live in the wandering community without issue. I sat with them for days and over many cups of tea, I heard their stories, lullabies, and longing for the life they had. All the women I met on this journey seem to share the same frustration. Frustration over the feeling of being "purposeless," as Pudani Audi (seen in picture 1) told me: "I miss my family, my tribe, and the Tundra, my love. But it seems I am no longer needed there. My part is over."

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