Special opening performance for Arctic Highways
at Scandinavia House, New York

Photos: Hans Olof Utsi

On April 15 in celebration of the opening of Arctic Highways, join us for a special performance and film event! Greenlandic dancer Elisabeth Heilmann Blind performs “UaaJeerneq – the Greenlandic Mask Dance,” the oldest dramatic expression among the Inuits in Greenland.

Program outline for the 15th:

• 1 PM — Elisabeth Heilmann Blind performs “UaaJeerneq – the Greenlandic Mask Dance,” the oldest dramatic expression among the Inuits in Greenland.

• brief intermission

• 2 PM — screening of the film Historjá – Stitches For Sápmi, depicting artist Britta Marakatt-Labba’s battle for her culture against the threats of climate change.

• The film will be followed by a music performance by Sámi Yoiker Lars-Henrik Blind.

• 3:30 PM — panel discussion with Britta Marakatt-Labba, Thomas Jackson, and Elisabeth Heilmann Blind.

About Arctic Highways

SAT—April 15th to SAT—July 22th 2023
Opening hours TUE-SAT between 12-6 PM, free entry!

Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue New York,
NY 10016

Opening April 15 at Scandinavia House, Arctic Highways brings together the artwork and handicrafts of 12 Indigenous artists from Sápmi, Canada and Alaska in an exhibition highlighting the thriving cultural and spiritual communities of the Arctic region. Curated by Indigenous artists Tomas Colbengtson, Gunvor Guttorm, Dan Jåma and Britta Marakatt-Labba, the exhibition includes their own works alongside those of artists Matti Aikio, Marja Helander, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, Olof Marsja, Máret Ánne Sara, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Maureen Gruben and Meryl McMaster.

As a special opening event on Saturday, April 15, Elisabeth Heilmann Blind will  perform “UaaJeerneq – the Greenlandic Mask Dance,” followed by a screening of Historjá – Stitches For Sápmi (dir. Thomas Jackson), depicting artist Britta Marakatt-Labba’s battle for her culture against the threats of climate change. Next, Sámi Yoiker Lars-Henrik Blind will perform, followed by a panel with Britta Marakatt-Labba, Thomas Jackson, Elisabeth Heilmann Blind and Tomas Colbengston. Learn more and register. Coordinated alongside the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues 2023 from April 17-28, the opening weekend will be followed by a film event “Climate Actions — Future Changes” at Scandinavia House on April 21 & 22.

The exhibition includes a wide range of artworks and duodji (Sámi handicrafts) including Britta Marakatt-Labba’s narrative embroidery portraying motifs from Sámi culture and history; sculpture works by Máret Ánne Sara utilizing traditional objects such as the komsekula silver amulet (believed in Sámi culture to have protective powers); handmade clothing and sculpture works by Laila Susanna Kuhmunen; mixed-media sculptures by Gunvor Guttorm; and Tomas Colbengtson’s The Children of the Sun, which incorporates a traditional shaman drum with portraits of Sámi heroes, including poets, artists and linguists.

Many works explore Sámi identity, such as the sculptures of Olof Marsja, which incorporate organic, industrial and handmade materials into ambiguous figures and objects; photographs by Meryl McMaster, which examine the self in relation to land, lineage, history, and culture; and video works by artists Matti Aikio and Dan Jåma. The exhibition also looks at the contemporary context of the Arctic, as in Sonya Kelliher-Combs’s mixed-media art focusing on the changing North and our relationship to nature and each other; images and video by Maureen Gruben, who investigates life in the Arctic within global environmental concerns; and Marja Helander’s photography series North, which examines the dependence between humans and nature through landscapes and portraits.