"Unknown Siberia: Vitaly Ivanov"
2003-08-06 until 2003-09-26
Sasol Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch, , ZA South Africa

"I was born and grew up in Siberia. With all my heart I love this amazingly beautiful place and people who live here. That is why I want to tell the whole world about Siberia. She deserves it" Vitaly Ivanov is a professional journalist and press photographer. He lives in Krasnoyarsk where he was born in 1960 into a family of journalists. In 1984 he graduated from Irkutsk State University and started working for a newspaper published in Taimyr Peninsula.

Vitaly Ivanov worked and lived in Dikson, an Arctic settlement on Kara coast for several years. During this time, Vitaly visited the North Pole four times. He travelled the entire course of the Northern Sea Route (from the Barents Sea up to the Bering Strait) by nuclear icebreakers. While living in Dikson he began to contribute actively to authoritative Russian and foreign publications, and had his photographs published in several countries all over the world.

Vitaly has participated in various photographic exhibitions and competitions. Since 1996 Vitaly Ivanov has represented the State Central Information Agency of Russia ITAR-TASS photo service in Eastern Siberia. The territory of his professional interests includes the Krasnoyarsk region, the Irkitskaya oblast, the republics of Khakassia and Tuva, the Taimirski, Evenkiiski and Urst-Ordinski autonomous regions.

The photographs on exhibition at the Sasol Art Museum are a selection of "Unknown Siberia", an exhibition of personal pictures taken in various parts of Eastern Siberia. The pictures show the original cultures of people inhabiting the east of Siberia and their religious tendencies like Christianity, Paganism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Shamanism. A large section of the exhibition shows the republics of Tuva and Khakassia; the Arctic and Taimyr Peninsula.

The exhibition will be opened by Alexander Bikantov, (Acting Consul-General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town) on Wednesday 6 August 2003 at 18:30 at the SASOL Art Museum, 52 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch.

This exhibition is presented by the University Museum in collaboration with the Consulate-General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town and the International Office, University of Stellenbosch.

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