Venice Biennale dedicates space for Indigenous art with Sami Pavilion

A dedicated spacewill bringtogether Indigenous groups and nations from across the world to connect and share knowledge at this year'sVenice Biennale, an art exhibition held every two years in the Italian city.

In previous years, the Nordic Pavilionhas represented Norway, Finland and Sweden,which are all part ofSpmi, the traditional territory of the Indigenous Samipeople. This year the pavilion has been renamed the Smi Pavilion.

For Liisa-Ravna Finbog, the pavilion's co-curator, this move is significant because the Biennale is a space where stories about Indigenous people have often been told from an outside perspective.

"Now we are going in and we are not so much as decolonizing as we are Indigenizing, putting our stories at the forefront, centring everything that makes our communities Indigenous andsharing this with the world," said Finbog.

Finbog is a Sami scholar and duojar (Sami storyteller and knowledge-holder) from Oslo, Vaapste, and Sknit in the Norwegian part of Spmi.

The pavilion will feature three Sami artists:Pauliina Feodoroff,an artist, theatre director, Smi land guardian, and politician, with rootsin the Finnish andRussian parts of Spmi;Mret nne Sar,a visual artist and author based in Guovdageaidnu, in the Norwegian side of Spmi whocomes from a reindeer herding family who struggled to protect their herds from state-sanctioned slaughter, which deeply influences her work; andAnders Sunna, who comes from a family of forest reindeer herders in Kieksiisvaara on the Swedish side of Spmi andchronicles the exploitation of land and natural resources through painting, graffiti, and sculptures.

As part of the extended program of the Smi Pavilionwill also be a four-day aabaakwadgathering.Aabaakwad ("it clears after a storm"in Anishinaabemowin) is an annualIndigenous-led gatheringaboutart that alternates between Toronto and international venues.

Wanda Nanibush, aabaakwad event co-founder,is the curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Ontarioand is serving as an international advisor on the Sami Pavilion.

The extended program will feature performances, talks, poetry and music by artists Rebecca Belmore, Stan Douglas, Jeremy Dutcher, Jeffrey Gibson, New World Order and more.

"It will give real presence and visibility to Indigenous people in support of this kind of move for Smi sovereignty and aabaakwad itself as a kind of a sovereign space within the international art world as well for Indigenous artists," saidNanibush.

The Venice Biennale beginsApril 23 and will run until Nov.27.