The Khanty Hunter

The Khanty live along the Ob in Western Siberia, traditionally from hunting, fishing and gathering. Together with the Mansi, they are the closest linguistic relatives of the Hungarians. In their own language, "Khanty" simply means "person". Many today are Orthodox Christians but combine their faith with shamanic beliefs.

The work is titled "Lábnyom", footprint, and appeared on New Year’s Day 2026, a few days after Kolodko’s Christmas figure Piszkos Fred. He has not explained it. In his video, however, he lets an old shaman speak: "Here on earth, under the sky, we belong together. The Khanty in the forest can only be happy if the Russian is too. But the Russians cannot be happy either if we Khanty suffer because of them."

Many therefore read the figure as a reference to the oil extraction that has changed the Khanty homeland, and the proximity to the MOL tower as part of the message. The hunter is also about twice the size of Kolodko’s usual miniatures.