The 2026 Lenscratch Honorable Mention Student Prize Winner: Anton Zdanovich

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Reindeer herder Gennady inside a bed room in a home within the village of Numto. He often lives in a distant herding camp, removed from the village. His herd has been diminished to round 30 reindeer. After wolves destroyed herds in close by camps within the Kazym space, Gennady fears for the security of his animals. In the previous, the state supplied helicopters for monitoring and culling predators, however this follow has now stopped, leaving reindeer largely unprotected in opposition to wolves. Numto, Russia, 2026

It is with pleasure that the jurors announce the 2026 Lenscratch Student Prize Honorable Mention Winner, Anton Zdanovich. Zdanovich was chosen for his mission, Numto, and is working towards a Certificate in Documentary and Art Photography (third 12 months) from the Academy of Documentary and Art Photography “Fotografika”. The Honorable Mention Winner receives a $500 Cash Award, a function on Lenscratch, a mini exhibition on the Curated Fridge, and a Lenscratch T-shirt and Tote.

Some landscapes maintain greater than geography: they carry reminiscence. Around Lake Numto in Western Siberia, the previous will not be confined to historical past books however lives on within the land, in Indigenous traditions, and within the silences handed from one era to the subsequent. This mission explores a spot the place fantasy, historical past, and on a regular basis life stay inseparable, revealing the enduring results of colonial violence, cultural erasure, and environmental change. Through quiet, deeply noticed pictures, the artist bears witness to a group whose resilience is matched solely by the fragility of the world it continues to guard.

A dialog with the artist follows.

Anton Zdanovich is an impartial documentary and portrait photographer from Siberia, primarily based between Russia and Belarus. His follow is rooted in long-term initiatives that discover provincial life, household histories, childhood, and the delicate traces of reminiscence in on a regular basis areas.

Currently in his remaining 12 months on the International Academy of Documentary and Art Photography “Fotografika” in Saint Petersburg, Anton works slowly, typically returning to the identical locations over years. His ongoing mission Numto examines the lives of Indigenous Khanty and Nenets communities in Western Siberia — a area marked by historic trauma, quiet disappearance of language and custom, and the invisible weight of the previous.

His pictures have been exhibited on the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, VAiF25 Visual Arts International Festival in Thessaloniki (Winner), and Bridge Gallery in Cambridge, USA. His work has appeared in Takie Dela, Verstka, Zapovednik, F-Stop Magazine, and Progressive-Street Magazine.

Instagram @zdanovich_anton

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Khanty and Nenets are organising a friend (a conventional moveable tent-like dwelling product of reindeer hides or heavy material) on the Amni River, one of many tributaries of the sacred Kazym River. In this space, there as soon as stood a Soviet cultural base, whose presence contributed to the outbreak of a violent rebellion 100 years in the past. Kazym, Russia, 2026

Numto

In Western Siberia, close to the sacred Lake Numto (translated from Khanty as “Divine Lake”), stay Indigenous Khanty and Nenets communities. The house through which they exist doesn’t separate historical past, fantasy, and on a regular basis life into distinct layers — they live on concurrently. According to native beliefs, this land belongs not solely to people but in addition to spirits; it remembers what sinks deep into time.

100 years in the past, a violent confrontation passed off right here between Indigenous peoples and the state. In the late Nineteen Twenties, the repressive system of the USSR acted overtly: reindeer herders have been burdened with insufferable taxes, herds — the muse of existence — have been confiscated, kids have been taken to boarding colleges to sever their connection to language, religion, and custom. Sacred beliefs and rituals have been forbidden and pushed out of life; shamans, because the carriers of this information, have been persecuted, silenced, and imprisoned. The very logic of life on this land was seen as an impediment that needed to be eliminated. The battle reached its peak within the space of Lake Numto and led to violence, arrests, and the suppression of resistance. For native individuals, this turned a deep trauma that’s nonetheless handed on by means of tales and concern.

Today, direct violence has disappeared, however the rupture stays — solely its kind has modified. The presence of the state is much less seen, however no much less defining. Reindeer herders stay susceptible: their herds are killed by wolves, whereas programs of safety are virtually absent. Young individuals not communicate Khanty or Nenets — the languages survive solely within the reminiscence of older generations. The arrival of the oil trade transforms the land, typically with out regard for its fragile ecology. And new political realities ship males to struggle, the place a lot of them are killed, persevering with a sequence of loss that stretches throughout generations.

This mission examines a group residing in a chronic state of rupture — the place historic violence has not disappeared, however has quieted, dispersed throughout time and the constructions of on a regular basis life. It not seems as disaster, however operates as a sluggish depletion: of language, setting, our bodies, and the longer term.

In Numto, silence will not be empty. It is crammed with what will not be spoken aloud: a disappearing language, a way of injustice, concern, and a historical past of loss that has not ended, however has grown quieter, as if sinking deeper into the earth.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Khanty lady Feodosia Ivanovna on the reindeer camp of her daughter and son-in-law, a Nenets man, 20 km from Lake Numto. Her grandson is buried on the camp grounds; he left to struggle within the struggle in Ukraine and was killed there. Numto, Russia, 2026

Tell us about your rising up and what introduced you to pictures?

I used to be born in Western Siberia to a Ukrainian household and grew up between two very completely different worlds. My childhood was divided between the lengthy, harsh winters of Siberia and the recent summers spent with my mom’s household close to Odesa in southern Ukraine. Because of that, I’ve all the time felt each Ukrainian and Siberian. In Ukraine I used to be typically seen as Russian, whereas in Russia I used to be seen as Ukrainian. Looking again, I believe rising up between these identities formed the best way I observe individuals and locations.

As a toddler, I cherished drawing and attended artwork faculty, the place I spent most of my time making pencil portraits. Later, I moved to Saint Petersburg to check engineering, and artwork regularly disappeared from my life.

Photography got here a lot later. In my early thirties, I started gathering pictures books and photographing on a regular basis life with my telephone. At the top of 2021, I enrolled in a pictures course. After ending it, my instructor helped me select my first digital camera, and we merely agreed to satisfy on February 24, 2022, so I might purchase it. It was an entire coincidence.

That morning, all the pieces modified.

February 24 turned the darkest day of my life. It was the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it was additionally the day I purchased my first digital camera. Since then, pictures has develop into my means of making an attempt to know individuals, reminiscence, and the delicate relationship between historical past and on a regular basis life.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, A Khanty reindeer herding household’s home within the village of Kazym at night time. The Tarlins stay between two properties: one within the village and one other nearer to their reindeer herd close to Kazym. They journey there by snowmobile or by reindeer sled. Kazym, Russia, 2026

Can you additionally inform us about your documentary program and has there been a instructor who has impressed you?

This autumn will mark three years since I started learning at Fotografika, the International Academy of Documentary and Art Photography. During this time, I’ve labored with round thirty completely different lecturers, and every of them, by means of their programs and expertise, has influenced my understanding of pictures in a roundabout way.

However, the one who has influenced me probably the most is Ekaterina Bogachevskaya, the director of the academy. Even earlier than she turned one among my lecturers, I had already heard rather a lot about her expertise and strategy to pictures. I first requested her for steering whereas engaged on one among my initiatives, and since then she has develop into the curator of a lot of my works.

What has all the time amazed me is her potential to note particulars and connections that I had not even thought of. At the identical time, she typically understands precisely what I used to be making an attempt to specific by means of a selected picture or sequence. It generally feels as if she will be able to learn my ideas.

She is an skilled photographer and curator who has the flexibility to see what others may overlook. I worth each dialog and each assembly along with her, as a result of every one helps me look deeper, assume extra critically, and develop into a greater photographer.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Helicopter pilots throughout a cease within the village of Yuilsk, a settlement neighboring Numto. In winter, Numto can solely be reached by helicopter as a consequence of its isolation and tough climate circumstances. On the best way from the district heart of Beloyarsky, the helicopter makes stops within the villages of Kazym and Yuilsk; the ultimate vacation spot of the route is the village of Numto. A century in the past, Yuilsk was additionally one of many locations the place Indigenous resistance in opposition to state insurance policies unfolded. Today, the route continues by means of a panorama the place traces of previous conflicts stay embedded in on a regular basis life. Yuilsk, Russia, 2026

What first introduced you to Lake Numto, and what satisfied you that this was a narrative you wanted to inform?

I typically really feel that locations discover me moderately than the opposite means round. My initiatives often start by means of a sequence of surprising encounters and circumstances.

I used to be born within the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and I began photographing a narrative about my hometown. During my analysis, I visited a neighborhood ethnographic museum, the place I realized about Khanty traditions, rituals, and their connection to the lands across the Kazym River. I turned deeply on this tradition and determined to journey there.

My first go to was to the village of Kazym. The extra I realized, the extra questions appeared. Through conversations with native individuals, I found the historical past of the Kazym rebellion and ultimately realized concerning the village of Numto and the sacred lake close by.

When I first arrived in these locations, I didn’t have a transparent thought of what the ultimate story would develop into. I merely hung out with individuals, listened to their tales, and tried to develop into a part of the group. The mission grew naturally from these relationships and from my want to know the place from inside.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, An set up of animal bones within the ethnographic museum of Kazym village. Kazym, Russia, 2026

You describe a spot the place fantasy, historical past, and each day life coexist. How did you translate that layered actuality into pictures?

I don’t start my initiatives with a hard and fast checklist of questions that I must reply. For me, that will create a boundary across the story and stop me from discovering issues that I couldn’t have anticipated.

Instead, I spend time with individuals and attempt to perceive what is actually necessary to them. For some, it’s their historical past and the reminiscence of their ancestors. For others, it’s the land itself, the sacred locations, and the religious beliefs related to them. These issues are a supply of satisfaction for many individuals in the neighborhood.

I desire to construct relationships naturally. At first, conversations are easy — like two individuals who have simply met and are attending to know one another. As belief develops, the conversations develop into deeper and extra private. I ask questions when one thing genuinely pursuits me, however I don’t attempt to lead individuals towards a particular reply.

The layered actuality of Numto that seems in my pictures is formed by the individuals themselves. Their recollections, beliefs, and on a regular basis lives decide what I see and what I {photograph}.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, A reindeer being transported by truck from Kazym. In Khanty-Mansiysk, after being unloaded, it burrowed into the snow, frightened and careworn from the journey. Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, 2026

Silence is a recurring theme all through the mission. What does silence appear like in {a photograph}?

For me, silence will not be merely the absence of sound. It is a sure rhythm of life and a means of being current.

While spending time with Khanty and Nenets communities, I typically seen a distinct relationship with time. Life in these harsh northern circumstances requires persistence and a capability to maintain oneself. People don’t all the time attempt to full all the pieces as shortly as attainable. They can work for a while, take a pause, after which return to their duties when the second is correct.

I attempt to strategy pictures in an identical means. I don’t need to instantly arrive with a digital camera and switch individuals into topics. First, I need to meet them, spend time collectively, and construct a sure degree of belief.

I wouldn’t have a easy reply to what silence seems to be like in {a photograph}. Perhaps it seems within the second when a relationship between the photographer and the individual being photographed turns into snug sufficient — when it’s attainable not solely to speak collectively, but in addition to be silent collectively.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Oleg, a resident of the village of Numto, reveals a knife sheath hanging by the window in his home. Oleg and his spouse Anna stay in a small wood home within the village. Anna makes conventional clothes, primarily burki — footwear constituted of reindeer leg hides. Numto, Russia, 2026

How did you earn the belief of the Khanty and Nenets communities, and the way did these relationships form the mission?

I’m nonetheless shocked by the extent of belief individuals have proven me. Some of them have even develop into my pals.

I imagine that the belief that developed between us is, initially, a results of their openness. I didn’t have any particular method or attempt to discover a explicit approach to acquire their belief. I merely tried to be respectful, pleasant, and honest. Everything else got here from them.

The tales, recollections, and conversations that formed this mission turned attainable solely as a result of individuals have been keen to open up and share their lives with me. If they’d handled me with suspicion or stored their distance, none of this work would have been attainable.

The pictures usually are not solely the results of my statement. They are additionally a mirrored image of the relationships that grew over time.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Alexandra, the daughter of reindeer herders and a pupil on the Kazym boarding faculty, is in one among its rooms. Children of reindeer herders research on the Kazym boarding faculty, removed from their mother and father, who work at reindeer herding camps which are tough to succeed in by land. They stay with their households solely in summer time, throughout faculty holidays. Indigenous languages usually are not taught on the boarding faculty, and lots of kids don’t communicate them. Kazym, Russia, 2026

Your pictures recommend that the results of colonialism proceed lengthy after seen battle has ended. How did you search to signify this concept of “slow violence”?

I didn’t journey to the Kazym River basin with the intention of constructing a mission about what is commonly described as “slow violence.” At first, I used to be merely observing how individuals lived and making an attempt to know the place.

The extra time I spent there, the extra I started to note adjustments that have been simple to miss. I used to be shocked to find that many younger Khanty and Nenets individuals not communicate their very own languages. In many households, solely the older era nonetheless does. I discovered that deeply unsettling, as a result of I couldn’t cease eager about what would occur when these voices are gone.

I additionally realized that there are far fewer reindeer herders and camps than there have been just a few a long time in the past. In some components of the Kazym River basin, they’ve disappeared fully. Today, some herders are compelled to slaughter their final reindeer as a result of they will not shield their herds from wolves. Years in the past, helicopters have been supplied to assist hunt wolves. That assist not exists.

Traditional rituals are additionally slowly disappearing. During my first go to, I met the final remaining singer in Kazym who might carry out the sacred songs of the Bear Ceremony, a very powerful ceremonial celebration in Khanty tradition. He was eighty years outdated. He handed away earlier this 12 months.

What struck me most was that none of those losses occurred in a single day. They unfold quietly, virtually unnoticed. That, to me, is what “slow violence” seems to be like.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Children’s drawings and inscriptions in an empty condominium within the village of Kazym. The homeowners have moved to town of Beloyarsky, the most important city within the district and its administrative heart, the place individuals typically relocate looking for work. As a outcome, many residences and homes within the villages are left deserted and empty. Kazym, Russia, 2026

Were there tales that group members selected to not inform? How did these absences affect the work?

I by no means had a hard and fast checklist of questions that I felt I needed to ask. My conversations have been by no means meant to be interviews. They have been merely conversations between individuals attending to know each other.

The longer I spend with somebody, the extra belief develops, and the extra we’re capable of discuss. Every relationship is completely different. Some individuals are able to share very private tales, whereas others desire to maintain sure issues to themselves. I’ve all the time revered that.

In immediately’s Russia, many individuals are cautious when speaking concerning the struggle, particularly with somebody they’ve solely not too long ago met. They are sometimes afraid of claiming the incorrect factor or going through penalties for his or her phrases. I don’t assume that is particular to the Khanty or Nenets communities—it’s a part of the broader actuality many individuals stay in immediately.

I by no means noticed these silences as a limitation. On the opposite, I imagine there are nonetheless many tales ready to be advised. I hope to return to the Kazym River basin this August, proceed these conversations, and deepen the relationships which have already begun.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Alina lives in a reindeer herding camp close to the village of Numto. She and her husband are elevating two kids and work as reindeer herders collectively. She shares all of the bodily demanding work of reindeer herding equally along with her husband. Numto, Russia, 2026

How do you navigate the moral duties of photographing Indigenous communities whereas avoiding romanticization or victimization?

I didn’t come to those locations with a particular theme or a predetermined story that I wished to inform. I used to be first drawn by the land itself and by the individuals who stay there — their crafts, their on a regular basis life, and their reindeer herding traditions. I’ve all the time been within the North; it is part of my very own life that I proceed to return to.

I attempted to strategy every individual as a person, not as a logo of a tradition or an issue that wanted to be defined. I understood that lots of the individuals I met lived in circumstances completely different from my very own, however our conversations have been merely conversations between two individuals who had met one another.

Of course, I’m human. I can miss issues, overlook one thing, or misunderstand a state of affairs. But I all the time attempt to not create a narrative that doesn’t exist. I need to {photograph} individuals as they’re — with their difficulties, traditions, on a regular basis routines, and personalities.

For me, avoiding romanticization or victimization begins with seeing individuals first as individuals, moderately than as representatives of a disappearing tradition.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, A reindeer cranium inside a hut within the village of Numto. For Khanty and Nenets communities, the reindeer is central to life, offering meals, clothes, transportation, and revenue. Every a part of the animal has a objective: hides are used for winter clothes and overlaying conventional pals, meat and fats for meals, antlers for commerce and conventional medication. Parts of the reindeer stay current in home areas, reflecting an inseparable relationship between people, land, and survival within the North. Numto, Russia, 2026

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Matvey, the son of a reindeer herder, seems to be out of the window of his house in Kazym. His father’s camp is positioned 20 kilometers from the village. A 12 months in the past, the herd numbered greater than 100 reindeer; this winter solely 25 stay. The loss is brought on by wolves that hunt the reindeer. This is the final remaining herd within the space across the village.

Did engaged on this mission change your personal understanding of reminiscence, belonging, or the connection between individuals and place?

Working on this mission made me assume extra deeply about reminiscence and the way shortly time passes. I typically discover myself eager about how far I’m shifting away from my ancestors and from the recollections related to them.

I typically take into consideration my two grandfathers. One was Ukrainian, the opposite was Belarusian. I generally want they’d lived longer, till the time once I was already photographing and documenting tales. I remorse that I missed the chance to spend extra time with them, to {photograph} them, to report their ideas, and to protect my very own impressions of who they have been.

I bear in mind a lot about them, however on the similar time I notice that I’ve already forgotten many issues. The indisputable fact that recollections stay whereas slowly disappearing makes them much more valuable.

Among the individuals I’ve photographed, there are additionally those that are not alive. This made me take into consideration pictures as a means of preserving a hint of an individual — one thing that may stay for his or her households and for the individuals who stay in these locations after them.

I’ve all the time thought of myself each Ukrainian and Siberian, and I’m proud to talk about each components of my identification. I see one thing comparable within the individuals I meet within the Kazym River basin. They are proud to talk about their ancestors, their origins, and who they’re. Even because the area adjustments and extra blended households seem, I typically discover how necessary it stays for individuals to say: “I am Khanty” or “I am Nenets.”

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, A northern breed canine walks at night time close to the sacred Lake Numto. At that second, the temperature had dropped to -40°C. In such excessive chilly, canines are sometimes the one residing beings seen outdoors within the night. Numto, Russia, 2026

What do you hope viewers unfamiliar with the Khanty and Nenets communities take away from this work?

I hope that viewers see the Khanty and Nenets individuals not as a distant or unfamiliar tradition, however as people with their very own recollections, experiences, beliefs, and connection to the land.

100 years in the past, a strong state tried to resolve how individuals ought to stay — what languages they need to communicate, what beliefs they might follow, and what lifestyle was thought of acceptable. Many choices have been made for them, with out contemplating the worth of their very own traditions and data.

But human life can’t be diminished to a single mannequin. People want the liberty to protect their languages, their beliefs, and their relationship with the locations which have formed their communities for generations.

Today, these pressures typically seem in several types. They could not all the time be as seen as earlier than, however they proceed to affect the survival of languages, traditions, and methods of life.

More than something, I hope this work encourages viewers to consider their very own relationship with reminiscence, identification, and the locations they name house.

©Anton Zdanovich, Numto, Reindeer herder Ilya crosses the Kazym River on a snowmobile. He lives together with his household in a reindeer herding camp close to the village of Numto, collectively together with his spouse and kids, his Nenets father, and his Khanty mom. His twin brother was despatched to struggle within the struggle in Ukraine and was killed there a number of years in the past. Kazym River, Russia, 2026