Kumu exhibition explores Sámi struggle for rights and self-determination

Kumu Art Museum will open an international group exhibition on Friday examining the complex journey of the Sámi indigenous peoples toward securing their rights and self-determination, ERR reports.

“No Beginning or End. Rebuilding the Sámi World” explores the politicisation of Sámi art, which began in the 1960s and 1970s alongside the Sámi self-determination movement and has again attracted widespread attention over the past decade.

The exhibition’s title refers to an interview with Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, one of the best-known Sámi artists, musicians and writers. He said that, just as he himself has no beginning or end, neither does his self-expression as a creator.

“This statement opens up the nature of an indigenous knowledge system: knowledge is not an end goal, but is used widely in various situations. It is based on participation and inclusion, and thus stands in opposition to the violence inflicted on colonised indigenous peoples and attempts to make indigenous knowledge secondary,” curator Ann Mirjam Vaikla said in introducing the exhibition.

The voices of Sámi artists have become one of the most prominent and dynamic parts of contemporary art in the Nordic countries and have gained increasing attention internationally.

The exhibition includes works by pioneers of socially critical art as well as artists from a younger generation. The participating artists are Carola Grahn, Snowchange: Pauliina Feodoroff and Kaisu Mustonen, Marja Helander, Kalli Kalde, Ketlin Kuusing, Jenni Laiti and Invisible Flock, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Alo Paistik, Outi Pieski, Suohpanterror and Lada Suomenrinne.

The exhibition was created in dialogue with “Expedition. The Finno-Ugric Person and the Power of the Image,” curated by Linda Kaljundi and running from October 2, 2026, to February 21, 2027.

Both exhibitions are part of “Expedition,” a multiyear joint research project by the Estonian Art Museum, the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Estonian National Museum. The project examines relations with indigenous peoples and the impact of those relations on Estonians’ self-image.

The exhibition will remain open until March 14.