Original characters
Art for menu that features three characters of the game
Characters Keskileene and Naryya are from a game in development Kharakh.
Keskileene(on the left) is a student with a hobby of carving wooden toys. Her parents were participants of Yakutsk riots in 1980s. She grew up in a remote village in Sakha Republic. After moving to a large city Yakutsk she feels lonely because of her background and oppressive Russian laws. One day she discovers a strange videogame that distorts her perception of time.
Naryya(on the right) is a Sakha woman from early 19th century. Not much is known about her. She works on the fields from sunrise to sunset. She has scars that are a reminder of what happened to her. She sometimes makes improvised jewelry that reminds her of traditional Sakha set and wears it on top of the scars. One day while working outside Naryya felt someone touch her arm. When she looked around there was nobody. But she still felt a presence of somebody else, as if she was connected to someone from a different timeline.
On the background is an antagonist of the game. A creepy skeleton of a Russian soldier in clothes of 17 century
For creating Naryya I researched digital archives from American Museum of Natural History that has some photos from expeditions to my homeland Sakha Republic.
Turnaround of an existing character
Turnaround of an existing character
For this work I created a turnaround of an existing character. I chose a figure from a 1972 litography print Morning by an artist Ivanov V. from Sakha Republic. I wanted to imagine how this character would look like in 3 different views.
Reference work - litography print Morning by Ivanov V. 1972
Reference work - litography print Morning by Ivanov V. 1972
Reimagining of existing characters
My response to how creators of Syberia franchise depicted Indigenous People in their games
This is the reimaginig of an existing character Ayawaska from the game franchise Syberia that is based on shamans from Indigenous Peoples of Siberia. As a representative of Sakha, Indigenous peoples of an actual real-life Syberia, I created a character that would express the anger I felt when I saw Ayawaska.
Offensive caricatures of Indigenous Peoples in the game Syberia 3
I also really dislike that in the game devs made Indigenous people shorter than everyone else. European characters in game have normal human proportions, Indigenous people look like caricatures.
I hope that Syberia creators will do better in the future. I hope they will realize that what they did was offensive. I hope that they will consult with Indigenous People of Syberia in the future. And I hope they will donate to Anti-war Indigenous Rights organizations that represent Indigenous People of Syberia such as Asians of Russia, Indigenous of Russia Foundation, Free Yakutia Foundation, Free Buryatia Foundation and many others.
