Having finished his artistic exploration of the tundra, Alexander Borisov set off for the Storozhevoy Island in search of new motifs. There, on the Yugorsky Strait near the Kara Sea, he painted the study My Campsite on Storozhevoy Island. The artist had to cover a long distance from Pustozersk to the Yugorsky Strait. He made a lot of stops on his way, painting studies and observing the nomadic way of life of the Nenets people.
Borisov had to learn a lot in that journey. To survive in the harsh conditions of the Far North, you need to adapt as fast as possible. Borisov managed to pass the adaptation test brilliantly, a skill that he would make a big use of during his trip to Novaya Zemlya.
‘Everybody ate raw meat, including me, ’ Borisov wrote. As an honoured guest, he was offered the most delicious dish: raw reindeer kidneys. ‘So as not to offend the hosts, I ate the kidneys, though without much pleasure, especially when I remembered the function of that organ. However, I quite enjoyed eating warm meat and warm blood.’
If you look closely at My Campsite on Storozhevoy Island, you can notice a man at the foot of the rock. Also, there is a sleeping bag, a pillow, a basket and a photo camera. In the distance, there are ice flows moving from the Kara Sea.
As the artist wrote: ‘The island was covered with graves. Between the rocks, I found a sled used by Samoyeds to transport their deities: about a meter long, with seven stanchions. On the top, there was some kind of trunk with several figures inside: two idols, a wooden one and a stone one, as well as primitive representations of a bear and a wolf, roughly carved from wood. After having performed his incantations, a shaman had brought the wolf and the bear here, so that they couldn’t go to tundra. ‘While the figures are here, there will be no wolves nor bears, ’ shamans say. Next to them, there was a stone wrapped in a piece of red cloth, representing a disease brought here from across the sea: this way, it would never go back to the person it once possessed.’
Borisov had to learn a lot in that journey. To survive in the harsh conditions of the Far North, you need to adapt as fast as possible. Borisov managed to pass the adaptation test brilliantly, a skill that he would make a big use of during his trip to Novaya Zemlya.
‘Everybody ate raw meat, including me, ’ Borisov wrote. As an honoured guest, he was offered the most delicious dish: raw reindeer kidneys. ‘So as not to offend the hosts, I ate the kidneys, though without much pleasure, especially when I remembered the function of that organ. However, I quite enjoyed eating warm meat and warm blood.’
If you look closely at My Campsite on Storozhevoy Island, you can notice a man at the foot of the rock. Also, there is a sleeping bag, a pillow, a basket and a photo camera. In the distance, there are ice flows moving from the Kara Sea.
As the artist wrote: ‘The island was covered with graves. Between the rocks, I found a sled used by Samoyeds to transport their deities: about a meter long, with seven stanchions. On the top, there was some kind of trunk with several figures inside: two idols, a wooden one and a stone one, as well as primitive representations of a bear and a wolf, roughly carved from wood. After having performed his incantations, a shaman had brought the wolf and the bear here, so that they couldn’t go to tundra. ‘While the figures are here, there will be no wolves nor bears, ’ shamans say. Next to them, there was a stone wrapped in a piece of red cloth, representing a disease brought here from across the sea: this way, it would never go back to the person it once possessed.’
