Eskimo and Aleut by Kiyoshi Yagi (May 22, 2010) 
(19 votes, average: 4.32 out of 5)
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Categories / Documentary Portraiture / Human Interest / / Click here to open comments section, click again when done to close / 1 Comment
Introduction by Recommending Viewer
Shintaro Sato recommended Kiyoshi Yagi to us. Yagi’s documentation of the Eskimo and Aleut is beautiful to look at. He works in a manner that has completely disappeared in my part of the world, photographing on 8 by 10 inch sheet film – the size of a magazine page – and printing them on hand coated paper. This method is a perfect mirror for the subject matter of this work, the disappearing cultures of the Northern native people. It results in a body of work that is both beautiful and sad to look at, as it underlines the fact that the developments described in Yagi’s project statement are irreversible and picking up speed. Viewing these photographs feels like looking at the past, while, in fact, we are looking at a disappearing present.
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
The Eskimo and the Aleut, the hunters of the far north, reside across four countries from the Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia (Russia), through Alaska (U.S.A.) and Canada, to Greenland (Denmark). They live mainly along the coast and partly in inland mountain country of Arctic Alaska and Canada. The Aleut live in Komandorskie Ostrova in Siberia and the Aleutian Islands in the southwest of Alaska.
Existing beyond the most distant horizons of most of earth’s inhabitants, the cultures of these native peoples are under unprecedented pressure from the outside world. They have experienced dramatic social changes within the last half century and also significant decline in the number of people who can speak their first languages.
The prohibition of speaking any native languages started at school from the beginning through to the middle of the 20th century in most areas of the north of America to assimilate the Native people. Consequently, the English language has become the major language for young people, and today many of them have difficulties in communicating with their elders who are, on the other hand, unable to understand English. If this pattern continues, it is only a matter of time until their native languages and cultural values completely disappear. Without their native languages the youth are in danger of losing a significant part of their cultural identity.
I have started traveling to Native villages with my 8×10 large format camera to photograph northern hunters in the family portrait style since 1994. I always include more than three or more generations to capture diverse values and historical backgrounds in one frame. The vast northern landscape and still life such as hunting equipment are also vital part in my project to show how people are dependent upon the harsh northern environment that surrounds them. The 8×10 inch negatives are printed on hand coated platinum-palladium papers that have rich tonal range and superb storage stability. It is my ultimate goal to complete my project by uniting Eskimo and Aleut people irrespective of national boundaries.
Kiyoshi Yagi (1968) lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.
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