Yellowknife (July 18/03) - A Russian photographer has a unique idea to bridge the cultures of Arctic people with pictures.

Photographer Vladamir "Volodya" Sertun is one of the first people from Chukotka to cross the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska after the Cold War.

Vladamir "Volodya" Sertun is a photographer from the Chokotka region of Russia. He toured the Mackenzie Delta last week photographing the landscape and the people as well as sharing images of his home. - Terry Halifax/NNSL photo

He made the trip in a traditional Yupik whale boat and with him, he brought rare photographs of Russia's North.

Sertun visited Inuvik last week, to share his images from his home and to make some photos of people here to share with people in Russia.

He says when people from here see people from there, they instantly recognize similarities.

He hopes with photographs, he can bring the circumpolar cultures closer.

"I'd like to make a bridge with pictures," Sertun said. "It's very important for the people to make friends ... I think it's good if Canadian people learn about Russia."

Not only are the faces similar, but the geography bears a striking resemblance to the land here.

While his English is not so good, he said the photos speak for themselves.

"With my pictures I make lots of friends," he smiles.

He said since Vladamir Putin became president, things in Russia have turned around and the new governor of Chukotka is a very wealthy man who has been investing in the region.

"Now it's OK, we have a new president and new power," he said. "We have hope now -- aboriginal people also.

"Life for the aboriginal people is getting better."

He said many Canadians and Turks are in Chukotka working on construction projects in the area.

"Soon all the villages will have houses like in Canada," Sertun said.

There are still many social problems facing the Chukchi people, he says, many of which we also face here.

"You have the same problems as we do," he said. "alcohol and suicide ... the same problems and many problems."

The sociological and political problems still plague the region and the country. It has been economically difficult for the original people of the area, but there is new hope he says.

"It's like a diamond; there are many sides."

The photographs he makes while here will be shown in an exhibition in a Moscow museum and also at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.