#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In 1971 the combine’s photo-information bureau celebrated its 30th anniversary. At that time, its creator was designing the Moscow magazine Musical Life and gladly took part in the celebration of his brainchild’s anniversary. He flew with an exhibition of watercolors.
Arkady Sorokin was an artist by education. He got to Norilsk on the 58th political article from the Izvestia newspaper illustrative and artistic department head’s post. In the newspaper he illustrated sketches of Lev Kassil, Alexeiy Garry, Mikhail Koltsov and became very good friends with them. He made photo reports from the Magnitka (Magnitogorsk combine) construction, where he first met Avraamy Zavenyagin. Sorokin’s next meeting with Zavenyagin took place in Norillag. There in 1941 he got for work one of the first Soviet cameras – FED-C2, which he used to shoot Norilsk in the late 1930s – early 1950s.
With this apparatus, shortly after his release, Arkady Sorokin captured the Victory Day celebration at the stadium. The photo chronicler took part in the preparation of the first book about Norilsk – Northern Lights by Yevgeny Ryabchikov. He often visited Avam tundra, filmed at cape Vhodnoye, in Dudinka, at all the construction and operating facilities of the future metallurgical giant. He was very fond of sports parades and ski competitions.
Nowadays the Nornickel Polar Division photo archive keeps the Norilsk chronicle through the eyes of Arkady Sorokin.
Read other materials of the photo project in the History spot section.
Text: Varvara Sosnovskaya, Photo: Archives of the Norilsk Nickel Polar Division
