Through Our Eyes: Sámi Art and Culture

• Through Our Eyes: Sámi Art and Culture is the first group exhibition of Sámi artists in the UK, the only recognised indigenous people in Europe.
  
• Britta Marakatt-Labba, Joar Nango & Katarina Spik Skum, Marja Helander, and Tomas Colbengtson, plus pioneering artists Iver Jåks and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, feature among 18 Sámi showcasing work across sculpture, installation, photography, video, sound, and performance.
  
• Outi Pieski to debut a new sculptural commission, advancing her signature style combining hundreds of shawl tassels.
  
• Through Our Eyes to showcase artwork from the most prolific and trail-blazing Sámi artists working today, while highlighting alternative ways of living and exploring ideas around creativity and the natural world

This winter, Somerset House presents Through Our Eyes: Sámi Art and Culture, the UK’s first group exhibition to celebrate the arts and culture of Sámi people.

The only recognised indigenous people in Europe, the Sámi’s cultural region (Sápmi) extends north from the middle of Norway and Sweden, and across northern Finland and Russia.

Curated by Sámi visual artist Matti Aikio and Somerset House’s Director of Exhibitions Dr Cliff Lauson, Through Our Eyes will showcase the works of 18 Sámi artists across sculpture, installation, photography, video, design, and performance.

Presented as part of Somerset House’s winter programme, which also includes Skate at Somerset House with Virgin Atlantic Holidays and Wonder: Why We Believe in Magic, Through Our Eyes will introduce audiences to Sámi cultural identity and contemporary art practices, revealing a holistic approach to creativity, the natural world, and a sense of belonging.

Spanning five of Somerset House’s Terrace and Courtyard Rooms, this free exhibition will immerse viewers in a vibrant worldview, while exploring important global issues such as indigenous rights, and contemporary reworkings of more traditional Sámi ‘duodji’ handicraft.

The exhibition will include rarely-seen work by pioneering Sámi artists Iver Jåks, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Britta Marakatt-Labba, and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, alongside some of the most inventive and prolific artists working today including Tomas Colbengtson, Carola Grahn, Marja Helander, Olof Marsja, Elina Waage Mikalsen, Joar Nango & Katarina Spik Skum, Outi Pieski, Ritni Ráste Pieski, Lada Suomenrinne, Anders Sunna, Carl-Johan Utsi & Jenni Laiti, and Liselotte Wajstedt.

Matti Aikio said:

"It’s a great honour for me to have been invited to co-curate a Sámi exhibition at Somerset House, London. Through Our Eyes offers a cross section of contemporary Sámi art and the aesthetics from our traditional craft, duodji. 

“The challenge has been how to present a selection of indigenous art from a culture which is contemporary and ancient and timeless at the same time, which is flourishing, yet struggling for its existence. Fighting to protect the lands and waters during the neo-colonial era that coincides with global warming and ecocide. We have tried to find a balance between the political and the poetic, and to tell the right story. I’m looking forward to audiences experiencing this exhibition at Somerset House.”

Through our Eyes examines a range of issues which affect and are vital to the survival of the Sámi people. Traditionally, and still, reliant on reindeer herding and natural resources, the Sámi way of life has been under threat since the 18th century.

But while the exhibition addresses ongoing political, societal, and environmental concerns, the featured works are often underpinned by humour, creativity, and enduring life force.

Through Our Eyes features three embroidered textile works by Swedish Sámi artist Britta Marakatt-Labba. These rarely seen intricately worked textiles illustrate a broad range of stories from Sámi life, from everyday reindeer herding to the cosmic afterlife. Two tent structures by artist Joar Nango and doujár, a professional practitioner of traditional Sámi crafts, Katarina Spik Skum also rework traditional domestic architecture from a contemporary perspective using textiles.

Another featured work in Through Our Eyes is SÁPMI, a performance and sculpture by multi-media artist Tomas Colbengtson. The work sees Colbengtson graffiti over a road sign reading ‘Lappland’, with the word ‘Sápmi’. Lappland is considered outdated and offensive by many Sámi, as it derives from the derogatory exonym ‘Lapp’. Sápmi refers to the Sámi cultural region, which includes modern day Lappland.

Through Our Eyes will additionally debut a new commission from renowned artist Outi Pieski. Pieski represented Finland at the 2019 Venice Biennale and her new commission at Somerset House expands on her on signature method of arranging hundreds of traditional shawl tassels by incorporating natural elements, creating a joyful and reflective composition of colour and texture.

Other featured works include two life-sized figures from artist Olof Marsja, who combines Sámi craftsmanship with contemporary materials to create mythical hybrid characters which raise questions of identity and cultural heritage, and photographs from Lada Suomenrinne, whose work aims to create dialogue between seen and unseen ancestors, while exploring alternatives worlds.

Photographs and videos by Marja Helander engage with the landscape, exploring the tension between the industrial extraction of natural resources and the fragility of natural ecologies.

Over a dozen maps by pioneering artist Hans Ragnar Mathisen combine design and printmaking to create a visual legacy of Sápmi will also be brought together for the first time. Hans Ragnar Mathisen, along with Britta Marakatt-Labba, were original members of the Máze Group, an artist collective founded in 1978, which was the first established group of professional Sámi artists.

Dr Cliff Lauson said:

“It is a privilege to be hosting the first group exhibition in the UK to showcase Sámi art and culture.

“Through Our Eyes introduce a new generation of the most important Sámi artists working today alongside key precursors for contemporary practice. It provides a unique indigenous perspective on how to live harmoniously with the natural world, a holistic way of being that we can all learn from.

More information including details of a public and digital programme to be announced.

Through Our Eyes - Sámi Art and Culture will tour to Kunstsilo, Kristiansand, Norway in Spring 2027.

With thanks to AKO Foundation and the Nordic Culture Fund. Supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of Finland, London, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland. 

ENDS