#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The five-meter sculptures – the project of the Norilsk artist Mikhail Parsov Four Elements – carry a semantic load that echoes the northern traditions.
The first time the summer tourism festival Norilsk Calling! was held at lake Tabornoye in the Ergalah river valley in July 2023. Non-profit organizations, artists, local craftsmen and entrepreneurs were involved in it. Norilsk residents and the city guests liked the bright and memorable event and received a lot of positive feedback.
“People’s reaction gave us the idea of creating a certain art object, a sculptural group, a composition on the festival site that would emphasize the features of the territory. To make the festival site a point of attraction for local residents and tourists. The idea of creating an art object belongs to Norilsk artist Mikhail Parsov”, said Anastasia Gubanova, the Tourism development center’s director.
Mikhail Parsov came up with the composition and implemented it together with his team, the Ikki-Taba creative alliance. The composition consists of six pillars. Two pillars mark the entrance group, conventionally called Bears, and the other four are located on the four sides of the festival site and symbolize the four natural elements: water, fire, air and earth.
“The composition turned out to be interesting and meaningful. The idea of the sculptural group is to convey the culture of the local indigenous peoples of the North – five ethnic groups living in Taimyr: Dolgans, Nganasans, Nenets, Evenks and Enets. It took time to make it: to bring the material, process it. To embody the images of the elements in four five-meter pillars is a difficult and labor-intensive task, but the masters succeeded”, added Anastasia Gubanova.
The materials used for the sculptures were unique endemics of Taimyr and the environs of Norilsk: suvela collected on the Yenisey river banks, driftwood from the Putorana plateau lakes, and trunks of “sleeping” larches.
“The sculptural group symbolizes the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. Life in our territory is impossible without them. The image of the sculptures echoes the history of wooden figures that indigenous peoples have created in Taimyr since time immemorial. The images of the four elements combine ancient traditions and a secular point of view on art. For example, the figure of Earth is made in a certain color scheme. Also, Fire, Water, and Air have their own totem color. Each element has its own face, character. They are not impersonal. In this we departed from the traditions of wooden sculpture. As for the images reflected on the entrance group pillars, they combine representatives of the northern fauna. The bears, whom we called Misha and Masha, stand on barrels with char images, and owls sit on their paws. The char is the most powerful predator of our water element. The bear is the master of the land. The polar owl is the most powerful bird in our air territory. The totem Earth reminds us of the bivouac competition, the element Fire – the campfire competition, Water – swiming on SUP boards and kayaks, and the element Air helps kites soar into the sky. The totems are turned with their faces to the center of the festival site”, said Olga Parsova, director of the creative alliance Ikki-Taba.
The story of dressing trees in knitted clothes continues at lake Tabornoye. It was started jointly with the 69 Parallel charity foundation as part of its project – the charity free market Sunduk.
“We had a joint upcycling project for recycling unclaimed things and at the same time a warm story. Six bags of knitted things less ended up in our trash bins. We painted trees with clothes, not paints”, added Olga Parsova.
Earlier, we wrote that this year the weather pleased the participants of the festival Norilsk Calling!
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Text: Maria Sanina, Photo: author