Then and Now Project

Bryan Alexander has photographed in indigenous communities around the Arctic every year since 1971.

During the past few years, Bryan has been working on a new project, ‘Then & Now.’ This has involved him revisiting Arctic communities that he first worked in many years ago and re-photographing people. Some of them are Inuit hunters he travelled with on journeys by dog sled in Greenland, others are reindeer herders he met on migrations in Siberia. Some were young children at remote camps on the tundra when Bryan first photographed them.

Pairing up the early photographs of people with the recent images of them makes an intriguing and unique set of portraits that illustrate some of the changes that have taken place in their lives and in their communities.

Yamal – Siberia


TAN0001-01: (left) Albina Rocheva, a Nenets teenage girl photographed at her family's summer camp on the tundra in 2000.		(Right) Albina photographed in 2017 at the studio where she works as a TV presenter in Nadym.

TAN0001-06: (left) Anastasia Puyko a Nenets woman with her baby daughter, Elvira, in a cradle. Photographed inside a Nenets reindeer skin tent in 1996.		(Right) Anastasia with Elvira in the hospital at Yar-Sale where she works as a nurse, photographed in 2017.

TAN0001-02: (left) Christina Serotetto, a young Nenets girl photographed at a reindeer herder's corral in 1993.		(Right) Christina photographed in 2017 in the office where she works as a lawyer in Salekhard.

TAN0001-03: (left) Oleysya Serotetto, a Nenets teenage girl photographed at a reindeer herder's summer camp in 1993.		(Right) Oleysya photographed in 2017 in the hospital where she works as a nurse in Yar-Sale.

TAN0001-05: (left) Valla Serotetto, a teenage Nenets girl photographed while cooking at a reindeer herder's camp in 1993.		(Right) Valla photographed in 2017 unloading the dishwasher at her home in Yar-Sale. Yamal,

TAN0001-07: (left) Galya Serotetto, a Nenets woman, photographed during a Spring reindeer migration in 1993.		(Right) Galya photographed in 2019 inside her family's reindeer skin tent.

TAN0001-43: (Left) Pudako Serotetto at a reindeer corral. (1996)		(Right) Pudako Serotetto at the Arctica sports copmplex in Yar-Sale where he works as a trainer. (2021).

TAN0001-26: (left) Sveta Pyak, a Khanty woman, photographed out on the tundra with three of her draught reindeer in 2000.		(Right) Sveta Pyak, photographed with 'Ava' a pet reindeer, photographed near Numto in 2020.

TAN0001-09: (left) Sasha Serotetto, a Nenets reindeer herder, photographed in 1993 as he checked his fishing net.		(Right) Sasha, photographed in 2017, at his desk as the director of the Yarsalinsky State Farm in Yar-Sale.

TAN0001-42: (Left) Kosta Serotetto eating reindeer meat. (1993)		(Right) Kosta Serotetto working in Yar-Sale. (2021).

TAN0001-13: (Left) Sovietskaya Street in the Nenets village of Yar-Sale in 1993.		(Right) Sovietskaya Street photographed from the same position in 2017.
Avanersuaq - North Greenland

TAN0001-15: (Left) Eqilana Simigaq, a young Inuit woman,wearing traditional clothing of the Thule region, carrying her young son, Peter, photographed in 1980.		(Right) Eqilana photographed in 2019 inside the Lutheran church in Qaanaaq where she is the Priest.

TAN0001-14: (left) Magssanguak Imina, an Inuit boy doing a traditional string puzzle called the tent in 1971.		(Right) Magssanguak doing the same string puzzle 48 years later in 2019.

TAN0001-31: (Left) Jacobine Have with her parents on an ice floe near Qaanaaq.(1971)		(Right) Jacobine Have, at work in the office of the hospital administration in Qaanaaq. (2021)

TAN0001-37: (Left) Panigpak Daorana waiting at a seal's breathing hole. (1980)		(Right) Panigpak Daorana at work as head of administration in Qaanaaq. (2021)

TAN0001-17: (Left) Sofie Jensen, a young Inuit girl from Qaanaaq, wearing a fox fur hood photographed in 1987.		(Right) Sofie photographed on the beach at Qaanaaq in 2008. She is wearing the traditional woman's clothing of the Thule region of Northwest Greenland.
The S�mi of Kautokeino (Guovdageaidnu), Norway

TAN0001-51: (Left) Inger Anne, leading a draught reindeer at the start of her family's Spring migration near Kautokeino (1972)		(Right) Inger Anne in her office where she works at the Sami University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino (2022)

TAN0001-53: (Left) Mikkel Eira being held by his father, Johan (1985)		(Right) Mikkel Eira holding his son, Ole Matheo (2022)

TAN0001-47: (Left) Berit Logje walking in a reindeer corral near Kautokeino (1985)		(Right)Berit Logje in her home on Kautokeino (2022)

TAN0001-46: (Left) Berit Logje reading her daughter, Inger Anne's school report in 1972.		(Right) Berit Logje with her daughter Inger at home in Kautokeino (2022)

TAN0001-49: (Left) Inger Anne with her aunt, Karen Anne Gaup (1972)		(Right) Inger Anne with her aunt, Karen Anne Gaup (2022)

TAN0001-48: (Left) Ellen Magarethe,a Sami woman, being dressed for her wedding (1985)		(Right) Ellen Margarethe making a traditional Sami man's Gakti (tunic) (2022)

TAN0001-50: (Left) Inger Anne Triumf with her baby daughter, Inger, in a traditional Sami cradle at her Christening (1990)		(Right) Inger Anne Triumf with her daughter, Inger, at their home in Kautokeino (2022)

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