From Steppe to Forest is an international initiative dedicated to documenting, preserving and sharing living cultural heritage through respectful collaboration with communities, tradition holders and cultural practitioners across multiple continents.
The project is founded by Zeldi Kvalvik (Sweden), Thomas Liljevold (Norway) and Emilio Dias (Brazil), whose combined experience and international relationships have established trusted connections with communities in the Nordic countries, Brazil and Mongolia.
During the pilot phase, the project will undertake carefully selected fieldwork focusing on documentation of living cultural heritage through photography, film, interviews and documentation of living practices.
The pilot will also establish methodologies for ethical documentation, strengthen international partnerships and create educational material for public lectures, workshops and future cultural initiatives.
The pilot phase is intentionally limited in scope.
Its primary objective is to develop a strong methodological and documentary foundation that can support a significantly larger international programme in the years ahead.
By documenting selected examples of living heritage through relationships already established with local communities, the project aims to demonstrate both the practical feasibility and the societal value of this approach.
The knowledge gathered during the pilot phase will be returned to society through lectures, educational activities and future documentary work while also forming the basis for future applications to larger international cultural heritage programmes.
Ultimately, From Steppe to Forest seeks to contribute to the safeguarding of living cultural heritage by documenting not only traditions themselves, but also the relationships, communities and people through whom that heritage continues to live.
From steppe to forest 