Spirit Land/Vuoiŋŋalaš Eanadat
Spirit Land/Vuoiŋŋalaš Eanadat is a practice-based transdisciplinary artistic research project around Sámi animated landscapes. It is an act of decolonisation in a hybrid form, composed of textile art, music and theology. Three cosmological spheres in traditional Sámi mythology – Vuolleamaibmi/Underworld, Eana/Earth, och Albmi/Heaven – are represented by monumental weavings, here set to music. Threads, different musical instruments, voices, sung and spoken words interact in a temporal cyclical performance.
Spirit Land/Vuoiŋŋalaš Eanadat can be seen as an act of reconciliation between the Sámi and Nordic peoples. The Sámi spiritual historiography, which has been silenced, both past and present, is here given voice and is incorporated into the church space of Turku Cathedral. What was banned and hidden is now invited and embraced. The voices of the landscapes are heard anew, restored and brought to life, but also transformed into something hitherto unknown. Matter is hereby given spirit and life. The restoration process has begun.
Spirit Land/Vuoiŋŋalaš Eanadat is part of the transdisciplinary research project Praxis of Social Imaginaries, Åbo Akademi University, Finland and is a collaboration between textile artist and archaeologist Emma Göransson Almroth, Sweden, and musician, composer and theologian Frank Berger, Finland.
Participants: Frank Berger (Hurdy Gurdy and vocals), Carolina Bjon (cello), Emma Göransson Almroth (jojk), Minna Hokka (overtone flute), Olli Liljeström (percussion), Marianne Maans (violin), Kari Mäkiranta (keyboard), Nina Nordvall Vahlberg (jojk and drum). After the performance, we will host a dialogue session on the possibilities of restoration and reconciliation.
For the ARTIST TALK following the performance of Spirit Land we have invited Nina Nordvall Vahlberg to join Frank and Emma for a dialogue session on the theme of art and reconciliation.
Nina Nordvall Vahlberg is a Sámi musician, composer and artist based in Jokkmokk, Swedish Sápmi.
They have composed music for their own productions with yoik, accordeon and various instruments in different genres, as well as music for theatre, dance performances and film/documentaries through the years.
Nina´s work is often based on the traditional sámi singing, the sámi drum and different aspects of environmental work, with a touch of folk music, that you for example can hear in the choir-peace “Musik till Gammelskogen- music for people and trees”, or the documentary- films: “Storskogen Karatj- Råvvåive” and “Drums and Drones” by Ignacio Acosta. Nina has worked with handicraft, music and art since childhood, and also recently studied duodji, (sámi handicraft) at Sámi Åhpadusguovdásj. You can see some of Nina´s work at the exhibition “VUOVDEK (a forest sámi person)- We live among trees” at the bookshop “Myggholkens väntrum” during the winter market 2025 in Jokkmokk. Also Nina gives workshops and lectures of and about yoik, the sámi drum, Swedish folk music and traditional dances.
Spirit Land/Vuoiŋŋalaš Eanadat är ett konstnärligt forskningsprojekt kring besjälade landskap. Tre kosmologiska sfärer i traditionell samisk mytologi – Jabbmeájjmo (Underjorden), Eana (Jorden) och Albmi (Himlen) – gestaltas genom monumentala textilkonstverk av konstnären och arkeologen Emma Göransson Almroth. Vävarna ges liv genom musik. Landskapens röster hörs på nytt. Konstverket är ett samarbete mellan svensk/samiska Emma Göransson Almroth, Sverige, och finlandssvenska musikern, kompositören och teologen Frank Berger, Åbo, Finland. Projektet är en del av det tvärvetenskapliga forskningsprojektet Praxis of Social Imaginaries vid Åbo Akademi.
Vi tackar Svenska Kulturfonden för att dom möjliggör detta evenemang!