INTERVIEW

Olga Michi’s Vulnerable project involved photographing indigenous people around the world. Steve Fairclough spoke to her about shooting it…

Rankin

Olga Michi

Photographer, filmmaker and presenter

Olga Michi was born in Havana, Cuba, into a Russian family as the daughter of a military officer. She studied civil law and worked in the Russian Foreign Ministry at the Faculty of International Relations. Since then, her fascination for history, politics and diplomacy has determined the direction of her travels and her photography training.

Today Michi works as a photographer across all continents of the world. She has organised difficult expeditions to Central America, Africa and Indonesia, lived with indigenous people and has dived with Nile crocodiles, white sharks and orcas. She is presenter and co-author of the Russian TV show ExtremePhotographer, and has produced award-winning documentaries and photography exhibitions. Her documentary film SmallPeople,BigTreeshas received several awards at film festivals, including the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, HumanDoc and Ekofilm.

www.olgamichi.com

W ith a CV that boasts the titles of photographer, documentary filmmaker, writer and TV presenter, it’s clear that Olga Michi is a woman of many talents. Her latest ‘production’ is the book Vulnerable, which was shot in three key areas of the world – the south (in the Omo Valley in Africa), the east (in southeast Asia) and the north (with the Chukchi people who live in the Chutotka Autonomous Okrug region, partly within the Arctic Circle).

The book shows dozens of portraits of indigenous people shot in their natural habitats, with the objects or adornments that they have (often on their bodies) or chose to include.

The title Vulnerable is partly meant to reflect the ways in which the indigenous people of the world are vulnerable – for example, loggers encroaching deep into the Amazon jungle, or rising sea levels threatening the existence of island people. But it’s also meant to prompt a question about our attitudes to indigenous people and how often such people are filed as ‘developing’ when, in fact, they are human beings who happen to come from a different culture and way of life.

What circumstances led to you having an interest in photography?

I have always been eager to learn about the world. A particular interest in studying the cultural diversity of our planet encouraged me not only in the journey around the world, but also in my life. Like many young people, for as long as I can remember, I believed there were different fields beyond the modern Western society.

Over years of travelling, I was lucky to see the unique corners of the world: the Nile Delta, the vast African steppes, the densely forested hills of the Central African Republic, New Guinea, Myanmar, Venezuela, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico. I’ve been to the far north. I submerged into Arctic waters at the North Pole geographical point. I also dived with white sharks, killer whales and other whales, giant octopuses and Nile crocodiles. I was within arm’s reach of gorillas and brown bears. But, most importantly, I lived among the aborigines and observed their way of life, from the Kalahari Desert to the Arctic tundra.