Their northern homeland, called Sápmi, is divided into four parts by the borders of the nation-states Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. We Who Remain (March 23–September 6, 2026) invites audiences to experience Sámi identity through the voices of the Sámi themselves.
Curated by Sámi rights advocate, essayist and musician Petra Laiti, the exhibition presents contemporary art by and about the Sámi community, featuring 20 artists with pieces ranging from the 1970s to the present.
We Who Remain is a joint production of Kiasma and Sámi Museum Siida, located in Inari, northern Finland. “Sámi contemporary art is receiving growing international attention,” says Taina Máret Pieski, Siida’s director. “This is the first major exhibition of Sámi contemporary art and duodji [Sámi handicrafts] ever held in Helsinki.”
Deep significance
Sámi rights advocate, essayist and musician Petra Laiti is curator of We Who Remain.
Photo: Lotta Hurnanen
Pieski calls it “deeply significant” that the curator is also Sámi: “Petra Laiti’s curatorial concept powerfully weaves together our people’s past and present.”
The Sápmi region existed long before the emergence of Nordic nation-states or national ideologies. The exhibition highlights the complexities of the Sámi experience, showing how Sámi identity endures and flourishes despite external pressures.
“The Nordic peoples have been taught that Sápmi never even existed, and if it did, it was not what the Sámi themselves say it was – or that its existence ended for reasons other than those we still feel in our bones,” Laiti has written.
“Don’t let that fool you. Before there were Nordic countries, there was Sápmi. Not a state in today’s sense, nor a nationality as defined by passports, but a nation. And in the past, it was the only nation that called these lands home.”
By ThisisFINLAND staff, February 2026
