State of the Art: Outi Pieski

Outi Pieski: Drawing and crafting have been important tools of communication and expression for me from a very young age. I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 2000 and have been on several duodji crafting courses in my home area which I believe have formed an important part of my education. Duodji is a holistic concept that preserves the Sámi philosophy, values and spirituality and connects them with practical and traditional skills.

OP: My art practice is connected to the land around my home area in the Deatnu river valley in Sápmi. Sápmi is the traditional territory of the Sámi people that extends across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola peninsula in Russia. My artistic process starts from the land and is made for the land. Making art allows me to reconnect and heal from the assimilation, the loss of language, the loss of holistic connection to the land and the loss of traditional set of values. My work explores the sacredness of nature.

I work with different media including paintings and installations which combine traditional duodji (Sámi handicrafts) and are often made collectively. I work between two platforms—my art practice includes duodji methods and thinking, and my duodji practice incorporates aspects of Western contemporary art traditions. The work can therefore be categorised as duodji and/or as fine art. Categorising my process has not been my main preoccupation, but I understand that combining concepts born from different cultures means they can get lost in translation.

OP: Our land is often pictured as a wilderness or no-man’s land. I want to show it is a cultural environment that has evolved in coexistence with all living entities, including humans. I am interested in Earth jurisprudence [a philosophy of law and human governance based on the fact that humans are only one part of a wider community of beings] and the possibility of using this in the fight against industrial land use in our regions.

Indigenous people around the globe are forced to play a significant role in responding to the climate crisis, as the last remaining biodiversity hotspots are in areas they inhabit. Our sacred mountains have an inherent right to exist without being subjected to the extraction of resources, such as "green" wind electricity or tourism. This “Guardian of Nature” concept allows a threatened land site to be represented by a community that inhabited the area before a nation-state's legislation. 

OP: I am inspired by the spirituality of walking, skiing, and gathering gifts from nature, which I see as practical ways of synchronising with the rhythm of other living entities. It is the same rhythm I have found that through making duodji, the Sámi craft.

OP: The Sámi tradition is based on reciprocity, respect and equal status for nature and people. I use the term "radical softness" when describing my work because I find it is radical to love, to wish well, to help and heal.

The Tate St Ives exhibition will include my interdisciplinary art and research project with archaeologist Eeva-Kristiina Nylander where we investigated the colonisation of the mind and body in Sámi women’s history through the story of one museum object, the ládjogahpir hat [The ládjogahpir was a hat traditionally worn by Sámi women from the 1750s up until the 19th century when Christianity arrived in Sápmi and they were banned]. These Sami belongings are scattered around European museums, one is in the British Museum's Collection. Nylander and I researched the demise of the hat in Sápmi and its reappearance as a symbol of the empowerment of contemporary Sámi women, culture and values. 

Cultural artefacts can act as mediators and enablers in the decolonisation processes in Sápmi. The project addresses the failures in bringing out history from gendered perspectives, a concept we call "Rematriation". Rematriation acknowledges women’s histories and values and paves the way for non-binary, queer, declined stories and knowledges to return, and the bodily practices between people and land, people and animal-peoples. For real Rematriation to take place, we would need all the ládjogahpirs in Nordic and European museums to be returned back home to Sápmi. Only in their own cultural context can the hats be truly helpful in the processes of remembering, decolonising, and healing. We need to bring these powerful belongings back home.

OP: Historic Sami cultural items are usually displayed in ethnographic museums, while western art objects are displayed in art museums. It's not correct to say that duodji objects are art, since duodji is a separate holistic concept, but I think that presenting museum artefacts within an art context allows them to be seen from different perspectives.

I am aware of my privileged position in the field of contemporary art, one of the few highly valued platforms for free dreaming and experimenting. Still, the structures of art reflect current power structures which discriminate and devalue different cultural heritages. I question why the visual and cultural traditions of my ancestors are shown in ethnographical museums while Western art is shown in art galleries. There is a huge gap between these two institutions. I believe that Sámi duojárs and craft makers should get the same institutional support and recognition as artists following Western art traditions.

OP: Duodji makes our connections to each other stronger, it opens up a living connection between ourselves and past and future generations and roots us to the land. Collective craftivism is visible in my art practice, which involves ritual, sacrifice, atonement, and renunciation. Duodji is a collective way of creating, a counterforce against individual-centeredness and competitiveness. Doing and using duodji today can be one of the collective ways to address or confront the painful ongoing colonial history.

Indigenous people around the globe are forced to play a significant role in responding to the climate crisis, as the last remaining biodiversity hotspots are in their areas. I think the problems of so-called “minority” cultures are intertwined. On a global level, they are ultimately linked to nature conservation issues. When we open our ears to the marginalised and side-lined “minority” representatives in our society, we increase our awareness of issues that are topical and meaningful for everyone.

OP: This is my debut large-scale exhibition in the UK, and will feature a new installation created during a residency at Porthmeor Studios, St Ives, in January 2024. It will include painting, prints, photographs, and installations combining which combine traditional duodji (Sámi handicrafts). The exhibition aims to raise questions about ancestral return, Indigenous peoples' rights, and the relationship between humans, animals, and land.