Exhibition "On the Far Northern Shore"

About exhibition

Tells about the writers and poets who created the literature of Chukotka and developed its creative heritage. In an incredibly short time, the literature of the small indigenous peoples of Chukotka reached artistic maturity. The written languages of the peoples of the Far North were developed in the 1930s — very recently in world history. In just a few decades, the national literature of this snowy land progressed from oral folklore to a high culture of literary language. Its roots lie in folk tales and beliefs, religious rituals, dances and songs of the peoples of the severe "white silence"; and in traditional crafts such as walrus‑tusk carving, which is itself a kind of poetry expressed through carved images that tell of the life and everyday existence of reindeer herders and sea hunters. The exhibition cases display primers and textbooks from the 1930s that helped establish the written language; collections of Chukotkan tales are shown alongside walrus‑tusk carvings that share common roots with the folklore.