Kumu’s Autumn Season Opens With Contemporary Sámi Art
Text Timo Raussi Photos Kumu Art Museum
Still frame of Marja Helander's art video "Birds in the Earth" - 2017 – Finnish National Gallery Collection at Kiasma
This autumn, Tallinn’s Kumu Art Museum will host two major exhibitions that complement each other. From the perspective of contemporary art, they explore the history, identity and cultural heritage of the Sámi and other Finno-Ugric peoples.
Today, 11 September, Kumu will celebrate the opening of an exhibition of modern Sámi art. “No Beginning, No End—Decolonial Gestures in Sámi Worldbuilding” examines the Sámi struggle for self-determination over their own land, language and culture, as well as the position of an indigenous people in relation to the social power structures of the Nordic countries. The exhibition is curated by Ann Mirjam Vaikla, with consultation from Sámi activist and artist Jenni Laiti, who was born in Inari in the Finnish part of Sápmi but now lives in Jokkmokk on the Swedish side.
The exhibition features both pioneers of Sámi socially engaged art and artists from the younger generation. Internationally renowned names include Britta Marakatt-Labba, Hans Ragnar Mathisen and Outi Pieski. Finnish artists featured in the exhibition include Lada Suomenrinne, Marja Helander, and the collaboration team of Pauliina Feodoroff and Kaisu Mustonen.
Among the works on display are two pieces created specifically for Kumu. An installation by Feodoroff and Mustonen examines the preservation and restoration of traditional Sámi land-use practices in Feodoroff’s family’s home region on the Kola Peninsula, amid violence against minorities by Russian authorities. The other new work is the video installation “Voyage” by Jenni Laiti and the British art collective Invisible Flock, which explores the impact of Norwegian state policies on the traditional Sámi territories.
The second major exhibition, “Expedition. Finno-Ugrians and the Power of Images”, opens at Kumu on 2 October. Curated by historian Linda Kaljundi, the exhibition uses photographs, paintings, video works and objects loaned from the collections of the Estonian National Museum ERM to examine how artists, as well as researchers of art and folklore, have shaped perceptions of Finno-Ugric peoples in Estonia and, at the same time, Estonians’ own identity. The exhibition focuses in particular on the power of images and the ethical questions surrounding the visual representation of indigenous peoples. In connection with the theme, works by contemporary Estonian artists Karl Joonas Alamaa and Jaanus Samma, among others, will be on display until 21 February 2027.
The exhibitions are linked by a project examining relations between Estonia and Finno-Ugric indigenous peoples and their influence on Estonian cultural self-understanding. The programme also includes an international conference at Kumu on 1–3 October, as well as an exhibition publication.
Supporters and partners of Kumu’s autumn exhibitions include the Ministry of Culture of Estonia, Nordic Culture Fund, Moderna Museet, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, the Finnish National Gallery, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and Siida Sámi Museum.
To learn more about this and similar topicscontemporary Sámi art Cultural Heritage events Exhibition identity Kumu Art Museum Sámi Tallinn
