Rayann Elzein is a French nature photographer and polar expedition leader based in Utsjoki, the northernmost municipality of the Finnish Sapmi. His work is deeply rooted in the Arctic landscapes that surround him daily — silent forests, frozen rivers, reindeer trails, and the shifting skies of the Northern Lights. Through his photography, Rayann captures both the delicate stillness and raw energy of Sapmi´s seasons, always with respect for the land and the life it holds.

With years of experience guiding and photographing in Svalbard and Antarctica, Rayann also brings to this exhibition a glimpse of the southern polar world. As a bonus to the core focus on Sapmi, Polar Lights includes selected images from Svalbard and Antarctica—icy coastlines, dramatic wildlife, and fleeting moments of southern light—offering a visual dialogue between the North and the South.

Rayann’s work is guided by a deep respect for nature, a commitment to conservation, and a passion for sharing the fragile beauty of the polar regions with others.

The “Polar Lights” exhibition is organized by Metsähallitus´s Northern Lapland Nature Centre, Siida

Geahčan botniid duohkái – Beneath the lake bed – an exhibition where Sámi handicrafts, duodji, are intertwined with art and poetry. Sámi artists Jouni S. Laiti and Kirsi Máret Paltto combine traditional materials – cardboard, reindeer horn and wool – with industrial materials to create works that bring together past and present.

The themes of the exhibition come from the environment, love and spirituality. The poems function as part of the works, deepening their message.

Jouni S. Laiti is a Sámi artist and duodji teacher from Mierasjärvi, currently living in Inari. Kirsi Máret Paltto is a Sámi artist and writer. She is originally from Fierranjoki, in the Tenojoki valley, but has lived for many years in Karasjoki and abroad.

The exhibition is on display in Siida from 22.5.2025 to 30.10.2025 and is produced by the Sámi Museum Siida.

The exhibition is supported by the The Finnish Heritage Agency.

 

“In the Time of Aihki (The Old-Growth Pine)” exhibition was born from Anna Pakkanen’s personal experience during a skiing trip in Urho Kekkonen National Park, where she discovered an impressive forest full of old pines. The experience made her reflect on the long lifespan of trees and the shortness of human life. The exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to stop and contemplate the relationship between nature and time.

“Pakkanen wanted to highlight the stories of the trees and their significance for biodiversity. The exhibition combines information gathered from old forest experts as well as her own thoughts and experiences, which have been transformed into visual works.

Inspired by the old pines of Urho Kekkonen National Park and their long lifespans, Pakkanen developed an exhibition that tells the stories of these old-growth pines. “In the Time of Aihki” exhibition mainly features paintings, but also small wooden sculptures.

– I began to think about those pines and how insignificantly short human life is compared to the life of trees. The life of an old-growth pine pine, from seed to becoming a fully decomposed tree trunk, can last 800 years. A tree now decomposing began to sprout around year 1200″, Anna Pakkanen describes her thoughts and observations during the skiing trip.

Anna Pakkanen holds a Master of Arts degree, is a graphic designer, and an illustrator who works for Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland. The nature storybook “Kuura and Pyry, which was published in autumn 2024, depicts the arrival of winter in a northern forest, and it was illustrated by Anna Pakkanen.

The “In the Time of Aihki” exhibition is organized by Northern Lapland Nature Center, Siida.

 

 

Kaamosmaisemia – Skábmaduovdagat (Landscapes of the Polar Night) is an exhibition composed of sceneries of sound and movement and born from the emotional landscapes of the Polar Night. It is made of artistic short films in which the period of darkness is described in terms of subjective experiences. 

The working group reflects on darkness as interior and exterior phenomena that impact on each other. In addition, they also look at the cyclic nature of the phenomenon. Many people who live in the north do not experience this season as dark, though the polar night is often described as such. The exhibition offers the viewers an opportunity to experience the polar night with its changes and shades through the artistic landscapes created by artists living in Inari.

The working group consists of Janita Rantanen, Sunna Nousuniemi (Radio-Juhani Sunná Máret), Sakari Maliniemi, Tomi Lampinen and Nicholas Francett.

The exhibition has been produced by the Sámi Museum Siida and the artists have been granted support for their work by Kone Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), Municipality of Inari and International Sámi Film Institute.

Kaamosmaisemia – Skábmaduovdagat is open at Siida until March 23, 2025. Siida is open in the winter season from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and in the summer season (1.6.–30.9.2024) every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. On public holidays, the opening hours may be different, so check them at www.siida.fi.

Bálvvosbáiki (worship site) is an exhibition composed of video works and based on the yoiks of the musician Ánnámáret. The works have been created in cooperation by Ánnámáret, the media artist Marja Viitahuhta and musicians Ilkka Heinonen (bowed lyre jouhikko) and Turkka Inkilä (elektronic music).

The works reflect on how the Sámi world-view is manifested in our time. According to this world-view, humans are part of their environment – not owners but users of the environment who take into consideration the legacy of the past generations and foster the conditions for life for the future generations. The land, the plants, the animals and humanity form together a whole the elements of which depend on each other.

To represent Sápmi, the Land of the Sámi, the artists use experimental and searching techniques in their works. The image and the sound enter a dialogue with each other, forming mutual horizons and meanings of interpretation and creating space for and accompanying each other.

The exhibition, produced by the Sámi Museum Siida, is open at Siida until September 29, 2024.

The exhibition is supported by the Finnish Heritage Agency.

Exhibition, “Northern Taiga − Land of Willow Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan”, shows survivors, Willow Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan, which have perfectly adapted to the northern taiga over the times, in their own habitats.

The exhibition shows survivors, Willow Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan, which have perfectly adapted to the arctic taiga over the times, in their own habitats.

Found in winter on the top of extreme cold and snow-covered fells, where only few animals thrive, Rock Ptarmigan is an example of a real survivor searching something to eat. Willow Grouse, better adapted to lower terrains and valleys of thick snow, finds buds and twigs more easily. Both birds blend with their pure white winter plumage to the snow so perfectly that finding them to take photographs requires sometimes a long-lasting search without any guarantee of  success.

Night less summer nights, a period when the sun doesn’t set at all in arctic, provide for a photographer a wonderful possibility to take beautiful, orange-colored pictures through the whole night. After changing their summer plumage birds may sometimes disappear completely into the colors of the environment while resting, so the photographer must be careful when searching the birds and to avoid any disturbance.

Global warming is already bringing challenges to both species as the snowy season shortens, and the color of their plumage is not necessarily optimal. Challenges are also caused when the predators like red fox spread higher to the fells.

The photos of the exhibition were taken in municipality of Inari and Sodankylä in the coldest conditions of winter and close to midnight in night less summer night.

Sami Vartiainen is a photographer specialized in bird photography and based in Helsinki, Finland. His area of photographing covers both Finland and northern Norway. His favourite seasons are midwinter as well as night less nights in midsummer in arctic Lapland.

Aune Kaarina Huhtamella (née Magga, 1931–2013) was highly respected by her family as a maker of Sámi handicraft who clothed both her nine siblings and other relatives from an early age.

The exhibition shows Sámi clothing created by Aune Huhtamella to tell stories about Sámi families, crafting and the meaning of the traditional clothing both in everyday life and during celebrations. The exhibition guides the visitor to the heart of what it means to be Sámi: making Sámi clothes means taking care; it is a pulsating expression of love for one’s family that will carry one through the stormy sea of life. The story is complemented by poems from Aune’s sister’s (Rita Kumpulainen; née Magga) book of poetry Kullankutoja (“The Weaver if Gold”, 2016).

An artist, children´s author and cartoonist Ninka Reittu has written and illustrated five Outdoor Etiquette stories for children. The purpose of the fairy tales is to inspire children into the nature, and at the same time to tell them how to respect the nature and other hikers while moving around in the nature. The fairy tales will also be translated into the Sami languages.

The Outdoor Etiquette helps the hikers to appreciate the nature. The Etiquette is designed to make the life easier, both in everyday life and during the party times. Important basics are respect for nature, moving around, camping, firefighting and litter-free hiking – when You have understood these rules, You are ready to hike in the nature.

“I don’t see all the stars that the map says should be seen now. It’s like there’s a curtain in the sky between me and them. Myrsky said upset.

– It’s true, it’s called light pollution. Saana said knowingly from her hammock.

– Gross. Myrsky huffed. “How do you get rid of it?”

With a fairy tale book Park & Wildlife Finalnd wants to ensure that the future generations are raised for nature-respective hiking and attracts interest and love for nature, which carries up to adulthood.

The exhibition is organised by Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida.

How has our environment changed in 100 years? We will find out when we place next to each other photographs taken from the same landscape 100 years ago and today. The photograph exhibition shows the landscapes that Erkki Mikkola immortalized a century ago and the same objects that Tapio Tynys photographed over the last few years.

Geographer, geologist and photographer Erkki Mikkola photographed Inari and Utsjoki region and Sompio villages in the 1920s and 1930s. Photographers Tapio Tynys from Ivalo found the pictures in the Finna.fi -digital archive, and he was excited to find and photograph the same sceneries together with Pertti Turunen.

Finding the places that Mikkola photographed has been an adventure and partly detective work. Pairs of pictures tell how human activity and the current warm climate period have changed the landscape.

The exhibition is organised by the Upper Lapland Nature Centre Siida.

The ládjogahpir, a popular and striking Sámi women’s hat in the 18th and 19th centuries; forbidden, forgotten, and disappeared in the 19th and 20th centuries; revived and revitalised in the 21st century.

The exhibition is part of an art and research project Máttaráhku ládjogahpir – A Foremother‘s Hat of Pride (2017-2020). The project is a collaboration between artist Outi Pieski and researcher Eeva-Kristiina Nylander (formerly Harlin). With their project they explore and make manifest the meanings and values of cultural artefacts―such as the ládjogahpir―for Sámi people, individually or personally and socially or collectively.

The exhibition Rematriation of a Ládjogahpir—Return to Máttaráhkká can be visited at the Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre Siida from 6th February 2023 till 24th September 2023.