Gulahallat – Encounters with Contemporary Sámi Art
11.9–24.10.2026
Institut finlandais presents Gulahallat – Encounters with Contemporary Sámi Art, an exhibition bringing together works by leading Sámi artists alongside a selection of traditional Sámi handicrafts. The exhibition is organised in partnership with Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture. It features artworks from the collections of the Rovaniemi Art Museum, as well as the Sámi Museum Siida located in Aanaar/Inari in Sápmi, the Sámi homeland area. In Northern Sámi, Gulahallat refers to dialogue, to mutual understanding, and to being heard.
The exhibition showcases the work of nine contemporary Sámi artists: Tomas Colbengtson, Marja Helander, Niillas Holmberg, Jouni S. Laiti, Hildá Länsman, Tomas Magnusson, Eeva-Kristiina Nylander, Outi Pieski, Lada Suomenrinne and Liselotte Wajstedt. They live across Sápmi, some on the Finnish and some on the Swedish side, reflecting the fact that Sámi art transcends not only artistic disciplines but also the borders of the Nordic states. Their works – photography, film, textiles and traditional handicrafts – combine ancestral techniques with contemporary artistic practices.
Sámi art is inseparable from duodji, the traditional craft that embodies the vitality and diversity of contemporary Sámi artistic expression. These works carry the traditional stories while reinterpreting them for the present, exploring current themes such as cultural resilience, and relationships with the living world, as well as the reclaiming of traditions, and the dialogue between past, present and future.
The Sámi people still live in close relationship with nature. In the context of the climate crisis, nature is not a backdrop, a resource to utilise or a landscape to admire; it is an essential part of existence, a vital partner, and the Sámi way of life depends on its well-being and survival.
Sámi history is marked with the colonisation of their lands, political oppression and forced assimilation. To this day, the Sámi people have had to struggle in order to safeguard their status and to preserve their culture by ensuring its transmission from one generation to the next. Even after four centuries of colonialism, Sámi culture, languages and spirituality remain vibrant and are now attracting growing international interest. Nevertheless, knowledge of the EU’s only Indigenous people remains limited, both in Finland and across the rest of Europe. The artists featured in Gulahallat respond to this reality through works that build bridges between generations, as exemplified by Marja Helander’s photography series The Generations.
In the Institute’s main hall, The 47 Most Wanted Ancestresses examines the complex history of the traditional Sámi women’s headdress, the ládjogahpir. Born from a collaboration between Sámi artist Outi Pieski and archaeologist Eeva-Kristiina Nylander, the work brings together research and activism as well as Sámi artistic practice and craftsmanship to illuminate the path of this headdress – from being widely in use to museum archives across Europe and to the recent remarkable revival of the tradition.
The exhibition Gulahallat is an invitation to encounter, listen and engage. It confronts the violence of oppression and colonialism while celebrating cultural renewal through art. To further explore the exhibition’s themes, a rich accompanying programme highlights the multidisciplinary practices of the participating artists through gastronomic events, film screenings and concerts.
The public programme is organised in collaboration with Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture. The Sámi are the only Indigenous people in the EU. In Finland, home to approximately 10,000 Sámi, nearly 1,000 of them live in the Oulu region, making it the country’s largest urban Sámi population. The Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture programme places Sámi culture at its heart.
This project is the result of a curatorial collaboration with Oulu2026, the Sámi partner organisations Sámi Duodji and Indigenous Peoples’ Film Center Skábma, and the artists involved.
Exhibition open from Monday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm at Institut finlandais : 60 rue des Écoles, 75005 Paris.
Welcome to the inauguration on Thursday, 10 September 2026 as part of Paris Design Week!
