Sámi 2022

Title: The Sámi Pavilion
Commissioner: Katya García-Antón, Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), Leevi Haapala, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma / The Finnish National Gallery, Gitte Ørskou, Moderna Museet
Curators: Katya García-Antón, Liisa-Rávná Finborg and Beaska Niillas
Exhibitors: Pauliina Feodoroff, Máret Ánne Sara, Anders Sunna

At the 59th La Biennale di Venezia, the Nordic Pavilion is renamed Sámi Pavilion to celebrate the sovereignty of the Indigenous Sámi people, whose nation extends across the Nordic countries and into the Kola Peninsula in Russia. This historic step in Venice Biennale history strengthens the relationship of Sámi artists to their homeland, which was originally conceived as a land with no borders, signing their re-appropriation through a symbolic reversal of colonial claims that have sought to erase Sámi land and culture.

The Sámi Pavilion hosts indigenous artists Pauliina Feodoroff (Skolt Sámi and nature guardian from Keväjäu ́rr in the Finnish part of Sápmi) Máret Ánne Sara (from the Norwegian part of Sápmi) and Anders Sunna (Northern Sámi artist from a reindeer herding family in Kieksiäisvaara, in the Swedish part of Sápmi).

The artists address ecological topics which are particularly urgent to their territories, such as deforestation and water governance. A cornerstone of their production is the self-determination of Indigenous Sámi people and their traditional activities that are central to their existence, such as reindeer herding and fishing.