Images of north-east Asia in expeditional and author's photo projects: strategies for visualization of research objects in the II half of the 19^th - the beginning of the 20^th century

Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North, Russian Academy of the Sciences. Siberian branch 1, Petrovskogo str. Yakutsk, 677027, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: solo007_79@rambler.ru

Abstract

Yakutia is a region, where 40% of territories are located in the Arctic zone; it belongs to a geographic zone with extreme natural and climatic conditions, where traditional types of farming continue to prevail. Today, the modern processes in the field of ethnic selfidentification and revival take place in it considering its geopolitical significance, as well as the study of their historical past, and are of particular relevance, where not the last role is played by visual and anthropological resources that are currently preserved in institutions of historical memory (museums, libraries, archives). The visual image becomes a key unified means of influence. Using the example of the Yakutsk region, the article examines the aspect of the visual development of the north-eastern territories of the Russian Empire as a form of scientific knowledge developed by Russian academic science in the process of their study. The systematic use of artistic practices (pictorial recording, photography) in the scientific and methodological tools of the research carried out subsequently had a great practical result, and had formed an impressive layer of visual anthropological materials. The paper examines the main visual images representing a multi-ethnic region.