Whiteout

  • Dates
    2022 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Contemporary Issues, Nature & Environment, Archive

Whiteout traces how territories shaped by imperial expansion continue to transform after the political and ideological systems that formed them begin to erode.

Whiteout is a long-term photographic project exploring the aftermath of industrial expansion in the Arctic. It traces a territory shaped by coal mining, forced labour, and Soviet industrial planning, asking what remains when the industry that justified this occupation disappears while its consequences persist.

Combining photographs made during repeated visits with archival images from museums, newspapers, private collections, and abandoned buildings, the project examines the photograph itself as an unstable object that changes alongside the landscape it depicts.

As industrial infrastructure decays and climate change reshapes the Arctic, Whiteout reflects on how imperial projects outlast the systems that created them, and how the idea of the frontier as an empty territory to conquer continues to resonate today.

© Katya Selezneva - Archival image
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Archival image

© Katya Selezneva - Locals say the bush has never been this tall
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Locals say the bush has never been this tall

© Katya Selezneva - Waste heap of an abandoned mine
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Waste heap of an abandoned mine

© Katya Selezneva - An archival image of the old city center, which is now completely abandoned
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An archival image of the old city center, which is now completely abandoned

© Katya Selezneva - Checking the quality of coal, archival photograph, 1935
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Checking the quality of coal, archival photograph, 1935

© Katya Selezneva - Black barn
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Black barn

© Katya Selezneva - Most of the cemeteries are hidden in the tundra, covered in snow for most of the year
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Most of the cemeteries are hidden in the tundra, covered in snow for most of the year

© Katya Selezneva - Under the bridge leading from the residential part of the city to the abandoned one
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Under the bridge leading from the residential part of the city to the abandoned one

© Katya Selezneva - Groundwater erodes the soil, exposing the rock
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Groundwater erodes the soil, exposing the rock

© Katya Selezneva - Image from the Whiteout photography project
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In the city, archival photos are sometimes displayed outdoors on public panels protected by plastic. The climate there is incredibly harsh; the displays are buried under snow for months. As the snow melts, the moisture deforms the panels and the photographs themselves. The images begin to carry the physical traces of the place they represent

© Katya Selezneva - A geological museum supported by a group of enthusiasts
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A geological museum supported by a group of enthusiasts

© Katya Selezneva - In the tundra
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In the tundra

© Katya Selezneva - A photograph from the city's archives is featured on a marble monument
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A photograph from the city's archives is featured on a marble monument

© Katya Selezneva - The city's first cultural center is currently closed due to a crack in the building caused by melting permafrost
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The city's first cultural center is currently closed due to a crack in the building caused by melting permafrost

© Katya Selezneva - Re-exhibition in the local history museum
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Re-exhibition in the local history museum

© Katya Selezneva - Image from the Whiteout photography project
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Archival images circulate through media, newspapers, and public spaces, and their meaning shifts depending on the era and the political context in which they are displayed

© Katya Selezneva - A poster found in an abandoned medical college
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A poster found in an abandoned medical college

© Katya Selezneva - Still life
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Still life

© Katya Selezneva - Archival image
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Archival image

© Katya Selezneva - Unfinished ruined mine
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Unfinished ruined mine

Whiteout by Katya Selezneva

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