NENETS. Life in the Arctic. EUGENIO FIENI (Italy)
This exhibition closes the EC FIAP cycle at the CIMIR in Reus in 2023.
From August 18, 2023 to September 24, at the Salvador Vilaseca Museum in Reus, Room 1, you can visit the exhibition "NENETS. Life in the Arctic" by the Italian photographer Eugenio Fieni.
THE AUTHOR
In 1993 he joined the Italian Federation of Photographic Art, FIAF and in 1998 he was awarded the FIAF Artist title.
In 2001 he won the gold medal of the Austrian Super Circuit and with a selection of Italian photographers he won the World Cup of the International Federation of Photographic Art, FIAP.
He is a member of the FIAP after achieving several recognitions from the FIAP, in 2023 he was awarded the title of Excellence FIAP Diamant 3, EFIAP/D3 for his remarkable artistic qualities in the world of photography.
His work is deposited in several museums and photo libraries in Italy and abroad. He has exhibited in numerous halls in Italy and other countries. He has individual and collective exhibitions in many Italian and foreign cities.
In 2018, with Sandro Parmiggiani, he curated the exhibition and catalog on the black and white school of Reggiano as part of the FIAF regional conference held in Boretto.
He collaborates with the Department of Foreign Affairs of the FIAF as responsible for the Black and White Biennials.
In 2019 he received the honor GPU - Global Photographic Union CR2, in 2020 CR3 and VIP 2.
THE EXHIBITION
Living for five days with the Vitali family in a small camp, about three hours by snowmobile from the first inhabited center, on the Yamal peninsula, living in close contact with the Nenets and immersing myself in their culture, customs is an experience that I was able to live and that is priceless.
But who are the Nenets? They are an indigenous people of Russia, of Samoyed origin, they are reindeer herders who have inhabited the northern tip of Siberia for more than 6,000 years, from the Kanin Peninsula to the Tajmyr Peninsula around the great rivers Ob, Yenisey and Pure Currently there are about 45,000 Nenets, of which about 27,000 on the Yamal Peninsula and about 500,000 reindeer managed by them. As a help in their work, they selected the Samoyed dog breed, getting it to adapt to adverse climatic conditions so that it could act as a shepherd dog.
The name Nenets derives from the Nencia word nuenecyaq, meaning human being, and it is believed that this name was given to them by ancient Vikings and Lapps who, when they arrived in Yamal, found aboriginal populations shorter than their own. The characteristics of the Nenets recall a mixture between the Nordic populations and the Mongols. The house of the Nenets is the chum, a mobile conical tent. Several families live in a chum to share the expenses. Each camp can consist of two to six tents.
The chum is built by two or three people in about two hours on a base that is obtained by digging a circle of a certain depth in the snow.
The chum consists of a heavy, thick and strong central pole, around which all the other poles (about 40) are placed and the stove pipe is passed through the centre. Later it is covered with reindeer skins that are placed on the poles with the help of a long stick. The skins are very large and you need about 80 to cover the whole chum. Some chums have windows, others don't. The door to enter and exit is created with a set of skins and thanks to Rady and Lika, the two children, we were able to learn how to enter it.
Inside is a wood burning stove that is lit in the morning and left burning all day and slowly extinguished in the evening. During the day the temperature in the chum reaches around 20 or 25º, while at night it can drop to -10º or more if it is very cold outside.
Inside the chum there is usually no electricity only in some cases, when the weather permits, they use a generator.
More about author: https://www.fienieugenio.it/
VISIT COMMENTARY BY THE AUTHOR, EUGENIO FIENI.
On September 9, 2024, we had the privilege that the author of the exhibition "The Nenets, life in the Arctic", Eugenio Fieni, was in Reus and offered us a guided tour of his exhibition. The public was able to learn about and enjoy the experiences that Eugenio lived among the Nenets and that he knew how to convey to us in a relaxed and very interesting way. It was an extra plus at the magnificent EC FIAP exhibition in Reus.
