Magnum Editions: Summer Wildfires, Siberia, Russia, 2021

In 2021, Nanna Heitmann captured the devastating wildfires in Sakha (also known as Yakutia), a three million square kilometer republic in northeastern Siberia. As well as destroying 17.08 million hectares by mid-August, the wildfire also caused severe smoke pollution and severe melting of its permafrost, producing record levels of carbon emissions. Pictured here is a single burning tree, close to the settlement Kürelyakh. Heitmann’s project, As Frozen Lands Burn, won a regional prize in the 2022 World Press Photo Contest, and came from her motivation to raise awareness of the speed at which global heating is affecting Siberia.