When Japanese photographer Ikuru Kuwajima was exploring the Russian village of Vorkuta, he stumbled across something unexpected: a boarding school for nomadic Nenets children. The Nenets are a reindeer-herding indigenous group who roam the arctic regions of Russia, and the school was established so that Nenets children could get acquainted with the Russian language and culture.

Kuwajima says that he was drawn to the bright colors and singular features of the school. “The interior was very unique and almost surreal—in other schools, you wouldn’t see such ornaments, children’s drawings, mini chums [smaller versions of the Nenets’ mobile tents], reindeer horns, and some handmade mini-sledges and clay-made reindeer.”

But to photograph the school and its students, Kuwajima was told that he’d need a