Oil and Moss

Shot on 35mm film, oil-containing liquid from oil spills in KhMAO was used at the stage of film developing . Oil randomly destroys gelatinous “flesh” of film deform it with holes and scratches exactly as harmed environment deformed under the oil spillage.

Near Surgut, Russia in Russkinskaya village, lives Antonina Tevlina, her mother and father still live an indigenous way of life.
Nomadize and grazing reindeers at their ancestral territory of about 600 hectares, they faced a new problem, oil producers came to their land.
Oil spills, pollution of water and lakes, destruction of the ecosystem, all this leads to a reduction of the number of the reindeers.
"Yagel moss is like a bread for a deer, if something happens it took around 30 years to restore" - says Antonina Tevlina.
In addition to pollution associated with oil production, the oil companies mount a checkpoints on all roads leading to the oil wells, now only close relatives on the lists can get to the territory of the ancestral lands, some guests of the family are have to dress up to national Khanty people clothes in case of go throw checkpoints.
In order to visit Antonina’s parents, you have to to walk 3 km. through the swamps, bypassing the oil companies checkpoints, about an hour by car on internal roads thats not marked on maps and around 10 km afoot along marshes and swamps.
About 50% of oil in Russia is produced in KhMAO, licensed areas often coincide with the places of residence of Indigenous People.
Local oil workers joke about KhMAO, that this is one large licensed area for oil production.
About 1.5 million tons of oil are poured out annually to the environment in Russian, this figure is approximately twice the volume of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Shot on 35mm film, oil-containing liquid from oil spills in KhMAO was used at the stage of film developing . Oil randomly destroys gelatinous “flesh” of film deform it with holes and scratches exactly as harmed environment deformed under the oil spillage.