The aesthetic simplicity of this book fuels in a fresh way an awareness of the course of human destiny and our environment by depicting a Nomadic people’s use of Russian and Chinese plastic packaging materials as an improvisational means of protection from the extreme cold conditions while doing something ancient. The book is understated in its physicality but with elegance and subtlety depicts these people with grace, homage, and respect. A humble, refined testimony to survival, adaptation and a spirit of pure strength and that is a welcome thing to see in our world right now.

Jeff Mermelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, was born in 1957 in New Brunswick, New Jersey and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and son. A photographer since his teenage years, he is the author of three books Sidewalk, Dewi Lewis, 1999, No Title Here, powerHouse, 1993, and Twirl / Run, powerHouse, 2009. His two upcoming books are Hardened, Morel Books, edited by David Campany and Arena, TBW Books.