Sámi culture-inspired art takes centre stage at Tate St Ives

Finland-born Sámi Outi Pieski's work encompasses painting and installation and revolves around the connection between humans and their environment, traditional knowledge, and Indigenous people’s rights.

Additionally, the series flags pertinent questions on land and indigenous people's rights.

The display features Ms Pieski’s landscapes, photographs and prints, along with sculptural works - most notably the recently crafted installation, Skábmavuođđu – Spell on Me!, finalised during her residency at Tate St Ives' Porthmeor Studios in January.

Rising Together II (Image: Tate St Ives)

Operating from Sápmi, an area partitioned among Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, Ms Pieski channels the wild topography of her hometown, Utsjoki.

Her art often presents a dialogue between the fluctuating natural environment and its inhabitants.

Exhibited are various seldom-displayed acrylic landscape paintings, capturing the region’s scenery, including 'Sacred Mountain Rástegáisa as a Legal Person II', which depicts the mountain outside her house and 'Deatnu River, Our Ancestor', portraying the river that forms the boundary between Finland and Norway.

Drawing from traditional Sámi visual heritage, Ms Pieski creates substantial textile installations featuring tassels based on traditional clothing and reference ‘duodji’, an Indigenous craft practice marginalised after the colonisation of Sápmi.

These installations, which Ms Pieski calls "three-dimensional paintings", co-created with Sámi women, deconstruct the hierarchy between contemporary art and artisanal creative methods.

One of the installations (Image: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning)

The exhibition also celebrates the Beavvit – Rising Together II, installation and 'Spell on You!', displayed alongside 'Spell on Me!', which was created this year.

Being both an artist and activist allows Ms Pieski to re-establish links with elements of Sámi culture obscured following Scandinavian colonialism.

The exhibition includes pieces from the 'Foremothers´ Hat of Pride' project, which Pieski conceived with Finnish archaeologist Eeva-Kristiina Nylander and ran for four years.

This project looks into the story of the ládjogahpir, headdresses customarily worn by Sámi women and later banned following the arrival of Christian Pietistic movement, Laestadianism, in the 19th century.

Ms Pieksi's and Ms Nylander's contributions visualise the history of the ládjogahpir and stimulate discourse about the erasure of Indigenous people’s traditions.