Remi Chapeaublanc | Photographer

The last Tsaatan

In 2011, Rémi Chapeaublanc set off to find the Tsaatan people, nomadic reindeer herders, straddling the border of Northern Mongolia. Amounting to no more than 282 people in the world, this tribe’s way of life has been disrupted by the transformation of its ancestral land into a national park. Hunting, passage and woodcutting are now prohibited there; total bans contradict their centuries-old traditions.

Since his first encounter, Rémi Chapeaublanc has continued to go back there, sharing their customs and everyday life for several weeks at a time. With this new photo series, he raises concerns about the future of the Tsaatan people, dealing with the tide of modernity in Mongolia, each year distancing them a little further from their traditional way of life. If the tribe accepts and even laughs at technological progress, it flatly rejects urban life, and opinion is divided regarding tourism. Their life in the Taiga represented absolute freedom. Now it is complex and in particular threatened.

Both humane and engaged, this series of photographs is nevertheless graphic with a particularly aesthetical and simple approach. This medium format work, produced traditionally with black and white film and then digitally enhanced, demonstrates the artist’s desire to adapt their anachronistic way of life. Rémi Chapeaublanc, who befriended a number of them, now takes the public to task asking: what will be left of the Tsaatan people?

Ultsan, 28 ans
Tipi dans la taïga
Solongo & Namuun, 29 & 4 ans
Graisse dans un tipi
Tsogkhuu, 44 ans
Moto dans la taïga
Munkhuu, 25 ans
Avant la cérémonie
Nyamdalay, 35 ans
Téléphone portable dans la taïga
Telmen, 1 an
Wolfie
Kiziik Ool, 27 ans
Rennes blanc
Nergui, 20 ans
Batdalay, 22 ans
Téléphone et théière dans un tipi
Suren, 65 ans
Lampe à LED avec plantes médicinales
Bold, 2 ans
Troupeau de rennes
Ochirbat
Salle de bain
San Tsegtseg
Intérieur de tipi
Ankh Bayr
Chiens qui jouent
Amgalan
Fromage de rennes
Chamane
Commercial films