NATALYA SAPRUNOVA
Sámis, we used to live in the Tundra

Despite her colored hair and her smartphone in the pocket, an 11 years old little girl Uliana, shows some characteristic traits of her ethnic minoritiy in the Extreme North region of Russia, the Sámi people. She loves being outdoors, going fishing, eating reindeer meat with her bare hands, doing handicrafts and embroidery. Uliana comes from a long line of reindeer herders whose traditions almost disappeared due to sedentarization by the Soviets in the 1920s.
Gathered in the main Sámi village - Lovozero, considered a reserve, is located in the hinterland of the city of Murmansk. Settled to work in kolkhozes, they no longer had the right to be Sámi: the practice of the language and the wearing of traditional costume were prohibited. Today, some 1,500 people live on the Kola Peninsula, but only 200 speak the language and most of them are elderly. Added to these difficultiesthe climate warming persists in the Arctic region with temperature peaks of 15°C above the average in the summer.

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