The far country: newly found photos from a lost winter in Siberia

Developed in a rush in Moscow with chemicals provided with instructions in Russian only, these grainy, black-and-white images are behind the scenes pictures from the making of a documentary that was never been completed. In 1992, 19-year-old Emile Hyperion Dubuisson was sent by a French consultancy firm to the Yamal peninsula, in the northwest region of Siberia, to work as a director’s assistant in the production of an informational documentary about the area. Due to winter’s harsh -50ºC weather conditions, which Dubuisson alleviated by drinking vodka, his memories of the trip are often blurred, a fact that is reflected in the aesthetics of his pictures. Filming was difficult and Dubuisson struggled with the weather at first, so he started taking snapshots with an all-weather camera, portraying members of the crew, local reindeer herders, fish factory workers, scientists and gas workers. The results have finally seen the light of day in a recently published book, FAR. They offer a bizarre, poetic and, at times, humorous vision of a long, bleak winter in Siberia.