#samuli paulaharju

[inariedwards]

Museum news from Finland:

Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia donates its Sámi collection to the Sámi Museum Siida

The Sámi Museum Siida is the national museum with the responsibility for preserving the material and cultural heritage of Finland's Sámi people. The Sámi objects in the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia's collections were mainly acquired between 1900 and the 1960s with the last ones added to the collections in the 1980s.

The first part of the donation, which includes the textile items of the collection, will be transferred to representatives of the Sámi museum in the collection facilities of the Museum of North Ostrobothnia on Tuesday, 16 January 2024.

– As the new collection and exhibition facilities of the Sámi Museum Siida are now completed, this seemed like a good time to donate the objects of Sámi origin back to the Sámi community, says Pasi Kovalainen, Director of Cultural heritage work at the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia.

– The Sámi objects and their return have a profound meaning for the Sámi community. The donation is a significant addition to the oldest part of the Sámi Museum Siida's collections. We thank the Museum of Northern Ostrobothnia for this important decision, says Taina Pieski, Siida's Museum Director.

The collections of the Museum of North Ostrobothnia that include objects of Sámi origin date back to the early days of the only professionally run museum in Northern Finland. The objects were collected by Samuli Paulaharju (1875–1944), a folklorist and museum curator from Oulu. The collection was destroyed almost completely by two fires in the museum buildings in 1929 and 1940. After both fires, replacement items were collected in Lapland.

The collection of approximately 400 items now donated consists of Sámi textiles and utensils, including a goahti (traditional Sámi hut) and several sledges. The oldest items include a cheese mould from Enontekiö dating back to 1797 and rare crossbow stocks, the oldest of which dates back to 1730.

As a large part of the Sámi cultural heritage is still held by museums outside the Sámi region, the transfer of the collection is important for the Sámi community.

The Sámi material culture is both practical and beautiful in its diversity, and the museum objects contain a wealth of intangible knowledge about their manufacture and use. This knowledge is best preserved in Sápmi by the Sámi themselves. Through the study of artefacts, it is possible to revive the old craft traditions and techniques of the Sámi community, knowledge of materials and the vocabulary related to the production and use of the objects. The revitalisation processes are a form of communal and intergenerational transfer of learning and knowledge, and they contribute to the transmission of Sámi material and immaterial culture to future generations.

The transfer of Sámi collections to the Sámi Museum Siida over the past decade is a concrete demonstration of genuine cooperation between museums and the increased understanding of the importance of cultural heritage for the Sámi community.

[kalevalaandothers]

Votian village of Kyorstovo, 1942.

"The first mention of the village of Kyorstovo in the salary book of Vodskaya Pyatina describes it as “the village of Kerstovo” and as a rather large settlement for those times - 19 households. On Swedish maps the name was somewhat distorted, the village was called Kirstufwa or Kirstufva. In 1705, on the “Geographical Drawing of the Izhora Land” by Adrian Schonbeck, the village was named “Kistova”. Only by the middle of the 18th century did the former name, Kyorstovo, return.

In the middle of the 19th century, most of the residents of Kyorstovo were votians.

And in 1911, Samuli Paulaharju writes: “in Kyorstovo, children can hardly understand the Votic language of their parents.”"

Photography from Estonian national museum.

[wear-and-tear]

Antti Parviainen, taikojen taitaja Paulaharju, Samuli, kuvaaja 1908

https://museovirasto.finna.fi/Record/museovirasto.15276A245080A57E590439E5C37D5509?imgid=1

[kielovesi]

Samuli Paulaharju: Suomenselän vieriltä (1930)

[legend-collection]

Poltergeist

A poltergeist is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of poltergeists show them as being capable of pinching, biting, hitting, and tripping people. They are also depicted as capable of the movement or levitation of objects such as furniture and cutlery, or noises such as knocking on doors. Foul smells are also associated with poltergeist occurrences, as well as spontaneous fires and different electrical issues such as flickering lights.

They have traditionally been described as troublesome spirits who haunt a particular person instead of a specific location.

The word poltergeist comes from the German language words poltern ("to make sound" and "to rumble") and Geist ("ghost" and "spirit"), and the term itself translates as "noisy ghost", "rumble-ghost" or a "loud spirit". A synonym coined by René Sudre is thorybism, from Greek θορυβείν ("to make noise or uproar; throw into confusion").

Parapsychologists Nandor Fodor and William G. Roll suggested that poltergeist activity can be explained by psychokinesis.

Historically, malicious spirits were blamed for poltergeist activity. According to Allan Kardec, the founder of Spiritism, poltergeists are manifestations of disembodied spirits of low level, belonging to the sixth class of the third order. Under this explanation, they are believed to be closely associated with the elements (fire, air, water, earth). In Finland, somewhat famous are the case of the "Mäkkylä Ghost" in 1946, which received attention in the press at the time, and the "Devils of Martin" in Ylöjärvi in the late 19th century, for which affidavits were obtained in court. Samuli Paulaharju has also recorded a memoir of a typical poltergeist, the case of "Salkko-Niila", from the south of Lake Inari in his book Memoirs of Lapland (Lapin muisteluksia). The story has also been published in the collection of Mythical Stories (Myytillisiä tarinoita) edited by Lauri Simonsuuri.

[bookoffixedstars]

Pauper statue (vaivaisukko) - Temmes Church, Finland, 1912. Photo by Samuli Paulaharju (1875-1944). Finnish Heritage Agency.

[kedidirokedi]

Pentti Sammallahti (Finland, b. 1950) 

“Sammallahti has been photographing the world around him with a poetic eye since the age of eleven. At the age of nine he visited "The Family of Man" exhibition at Helsinki Art Hall, confirming at a young age his photographic path in life. Featured in solo exhibitions by the age of 21, Sammallahti continued to exhibit and teach at the Helsinki University of Art and Design until receiving the Finnish State's 15-year artist grant in 1991. Sammallahti describes himself as a nomad who enjoys the nature of the great north: the darkness, the cold, and the sea. Sammallahti is a master craftsman, carefully toning his prints, to create a poetic atmosphere of desolate silence. Sammallahti was honored to be included among the 100 favorite photographs in the personal collection of Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was the inaugural exhibition for the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson in 2003. Since 1979, Pentti Sammallahti has published thirteen books and portfolios and has received awards such as the Samuli Paulaharju Prize of the Finnish Literature Society, State Prizes for Photography, Uusimaa Province Art Prize, Daniel Nyblin Prize, and the Finnish Critics Association Annual.”

[populusfennicapatriam]

Pitkälän tytöt kaloja perkaamassa, Rautavaara, Pohjois-Savo 1908. (Samuli Paulaharju)

[webionaire]

As a master craftsman, he meticulously tones his prints, which come in various formats, from 4 by 5 inches in image size to panoramas of 6 by 14 inches. In 2010 for his retrospective exhibition in Helsinki, he created large format pigment prints, about 9 by 21 inches and 15 by 35.5 inches in size. As a passionate seeker of the perfect mechanical printing method, his own innovative printing techniques and reintroduction of the portfolio form have re-awakened broader interest in published photographic art. Influenced by the idea of ‘artist books’ – individual works in which the artist is responsible for the whole: photography, the making of prints, layout, design, and typography, reproduction, and often the actual printing process either with the offset or the gravure method. Since 1979, Pentti Sammallahti has published thirteen books and portfolios and has received awards such as the Samuli Paulaharju Prize of the Finnish Literature Society, State Prizes for Photography, Uusimaa Province Art Prize, Daniel Nyblin Prize, and the Finnish Critics Association Annual.

From 1974 to 1991 Sammallahti taught at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, retiring when he received a 15-year grant from the Finnish government, an unusually long endowment, which is no longer awarded. Both as a photographer and a teacher, he has had an enormous influence on a whole generation of documentary photographers in Scandinavia.

[kaamosnoita]

Kekri

"Kekri oli jo vanhastaan vuoden kaikista suurin juhla, jopa jouluakin jalompi. Sitä vietettiin myöhään syksyllä, kun kesä kaikkineen oli mennyt, ja pitkä pimeä talvi oli tulossa. Se oli uuden vuoden alkujuhla, vanhan päätöspäivä, jolloin syötiin ja juotiin parasta, mitä hyvä vuosi oli taloon tuonut.

Lihaa piti kekripöydässä olla yltäkyllin, isot kukkuraiset maljat ja kaukalot pitkin pöytää. Kaikkea laatua piti hyvän talon pöydässä olla: jumalanhyviä ja karjanantia, vedenviljaa ja metsänriistaa, ja ylinnä kaiken täysiaikainen kekrilammas ...

Pitkin päivää sitten syömistä jatkettiin, "syötiin ja juotiin, jott' oikein turvottiin". Vanhat ukot istuivat jumalanviljan ääressä miltei yhtä päätä koko pitkän päivän, joivat ja söivät, söivät ja joivat ja turisivat päissään. Jos vieras tuli taloon, vaikkapa vain naapurinkin väkeä, tarjottiin heti hänellekin pöydän parhaita.

Mutta kekrin merkillisin puoli oli ikivanha henkien palvominen. Muutamissa vanhankansan taloissa oli vielä sitäkin vanhain muistannan aikaan toimitettu. Kekrin henget siihen aikaan vielä liikkuivat maatjalassa ja näkymättöminä vierailivat taloissa. Aattoiltana, kun sauna oli joutunut, valmistettiin se ensin Kekrille ja Kekrittärille, taikka, niinkuin paikoin sanottiin, pyhille miehille, keijulaisille, manalaisille kylvetettäväksi. Vedet, vastat, kaikki laitettiin käsille, ja sitten käytiin kylyn ovelta kutsumassa: "Kekrittäret Kekrittäret, pyhät miehet kylpemään!" Vieläpä vieraita ruokittiinkin. Niinpä Suomussalmen Juntusrannalla, Päätalon vanhauskoinen vaari itse valmisti pyhille miehille saunan ja sillä aikaa, kun he olivat kylyssä, hankki omaan vaarinkammariinsa heille hyvät ruoat, kynttilät vielä kahden puolen viritti palamaan."  

- Samuli Paulaharju: Kainuun mailta, 1922

[sferailyardartsdistrict]

photo-eye Gallery

Kindred Spirits: The Familiar and the Wild Featuring Keith Carter, David L. Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor

Opening & Artist Reception: Friday, June 28, 5-7 PM

On View: June 28- August 24, 2019

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

photo-eye Gallery is thrilled to announce Kindred Spirits: The Familiar and the Wild, featuring a selection of photographs by Keith Carter, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor, and sculptures by David L. Deming. As humans, we are part of a vast, interconnected system that ineffably bonds us to the rest of Earth’s creatures. We share our space with a plethora of beings, and the roots of our inter-species relationships run deep. Indeed, animals have been at the heart of human existence for thousands of years as protection, inspiration, assistance, spiritual guidance, and companionship. These works invite viewers to examine the nuanced ways in which we relate to and connect with the animals that surround us every day. Kindred Spirits will open Friday, June 28, 2019, with a reception held from 5-7pm corresponding with the Last Friday Art Walk in the Railyard Arts District.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Keith Carter’s photographs are simultaneously ethereal and corporeal. His high-contrast black-and-white style seeks to surpass straightforward portraiture and dive headlong into the mythological. Carter’s east Texas roots have greatly influenced his penchant for creating extraordinary photographs from encounters with everyday objects, people, and animals. His poetic and enigmatic style of visual storytelling looks, as he says, “around the edges for those little askew moments” that make up our lives.

David L. Deming’s world of lively canine sculptures captures the artist’s love for dogs and presents a whimsical look at four-legged behavior at its best. His extensive and unique collection of painted steel and lacquered steel dog sculptures, which range in scale from 56 inches to eight feet tall, are assembled using steel pipe, vintage hand tools, sheet metal, and other material that the artist has skillfully welded together, creating life-like depictions of memorable pets in rather human-like scenarios.

Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti depicts nature, eroded and broken down by civilization, but does not put people and the environment in opposite camps. He sees an equal relationship, in which the power stemming from the environment frees us from alienation and cosmic loneliness. His atmospheric, black-and-white photographs highlight the complexities that exist between humans, animals, and the places in which we share space.

Maggie Taylor’s process involves scanning and photographing plants, animals, illustrations, old photographs, and found objects to create enigmatic narrative scenes. Her photomontage works are fantastical, surreal, and open up to a multitude of interpretations. Each of her photographs is a carefully composed combination of many different images, collected from a variety of sources. She creates collaged digital artwork that transports viewers into dreamlike worlds inhabited by everyday objects.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Born in Madison, WI, Keith Carter is a contemporary American photographer now based in Beaumont, Texas. Carter uses many techniques and approaches to conceptually portray his statements as a photographer, including silver gelatin, wet plate collodion, photograms, and pigment prints. His acclaimed work in photography has led to over a hundred solo shows across 13 countries. His work is in a number of private and museum photography collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, George Eastman House, J. Paul Getty Museum, MFA Houston, and SFMoMA.

David L. Deming has enjoyed a successful career as a sculptor, teacher, and arts administrator. He has exhibited his sculpture in over 100 competitive and invitational exhibitions nationally and internationally with over 50 solo and two-person exhibitions. His sculpture is in over 100 public and private collections including The Columbus Museum of Art, The Arkansas Art Center, and the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Pentti Sammallahti was born in Helsinki, Finland, and made his first photograph at age 11. He has spent most of his career as a photographer traveling widely from Europe to Siberia, Japan, India, Nepal, Turkey, and South Africa. Since 1979, he has published 13 books and portfolios and has received awards such as the Samuli Paulaharju Prize of the Finnish Literature Society and the Uusimaa Province Art Prize. Sammallahti’s work can be found in museum collections including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Moderna Museet / Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm; and the Finnish State Collections and the Photographic Museum of Finland.

Maggie Taylor is an American artist, born in Cleveland, OH. She won the Santa Fe Center for Photography's Project Competition in 2004. As a pioneer in the field of digital arts, her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe and is represented within the permanent collections of several galleries and museums. Finding inspiration in 19th-century photographs, taxidermy specimens, mounted insects, vintage toys, seashells, feathers, and other artifacts she finds at flea markets, online auctions, and in her own backyard, Taylor creates surreal pigmented digital prints that call to mind tintype photographs from another world.

photo-eye Gallery 541 S. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-988-5152 x202 | gallery@photoeye.com.

[niuniente]

“The oldest mythological stories of world’s birth in Scandinavia often contain a folklore, where a nation/tribe has an animal ancestors – most often a bear or a moose. Kola Samish people believe they are descendants of a Deerman, who was half-deer, half-man. A human woman, who slept with the Deerman, gave birth to Kola Samish people from this union. The folklore tells that Deerman’s mother was a powerful witch, who could take a form of a deer. Kola Samish people have also folklores of raven and seal, who both marry a human woman. Where the Deerman taught the humanity how to hunt and thus represented forest, Raven was the symbol of air and Seal the symbol of water.  

Kolta Samish people believe that they are descendants of bear; on a one cold winter night, a young Samish girl had found a shelter from a bear’s nest, slept with the bear and gave later birth to Kolta Samish folk.

Samish have multiple folklores, where a human transforms into a bear, either by their own will or as a result of being cursed by a witch. Witches could summon a bear to attack someone, and such bears were called Lifted. 

“…The bear of Kurtakko and Kallojärvi (Skull Lake) was Lifted, it was one of those bewitched bears Otherwise it wouldn’t have hurt anyone. When the bear had been slayed they found a belt with a knife underneath its skin. It had been a cursed human…” - Story told to Samuli Paulaharju, in 1920

Wolf was an animal living in packs, so a witch could use their summoning skills to summon a punch of dead people back to Earth in forms of wolves. This kind of story was told in Utsjoki in the beginning of 1900. There was a wolf pack tormenting the area, so a priest was called to help people. He couldn’t help, so a sage called Kovven was called next. He was able to send the restless spirits back. Kovven had, after sending the spirits back, muttered angrily that “Seems that anyone can nowadays summon dead spirits to wander in form of wolves, but then they have no idea how to tame and send them back.”

[kalevalaandothers]

Votian maiden in festive costume from village of Krakolye (votic Jõgõperä), 1911.

Photography by S. Paulaharju, from the book “Ingria through the eyes of Samuli Paulaharju. Bicycle expedition in the summer of 1911”.

[kvenconnection-blog]

Notes by Sanna Korteniemi about the residency time in Vadsø, March 2017

Let's make some art about Kvens! Or... wait, it's not so easy. In which kind of context do we work within our project called “Kven Connection”? The general question is: How to make an art about others?

First idea: Kvens are Finnish-speaking people living in the Finnmark area. Second: something about Samuli Paulaharju. No, I haven't read Paulaharju's folkloristic tales, but I know his works, of course.

Third one: trips with family to Norway when I was a child. Norway was the closest foreign country, a good place for holiday trips. I know that Sweden is closer to Rovaniemi. But in my opinion there is not such a big difference between Finland and Sweden. As a child I’ve spent many summer holidays in Pello which is a municipality at the border of Finland and Sweden. There is the Torniojoki river on the border, called also "Väylä" (maybe “The Way” in English), and the river never divided but only connected people. Countries are different, but people are the same in many ways on the both sides of the river. I know that the Torniojoki river is familiar to many Kven people too. Many Kvens are from Torne Valley area, from both sides of the river. So I feel that there are some similarities between my background and the Kven history, language and culture. But is it enough? Could I say that I understand Kven people somehow? Is there any real connection between me and Kvens?

I started the project by reading books  for academic artists like me reading is the most natural way to get any information — so, let's go to the library first! Let's read about history and politics, about conceptions and statistics. Don't read so much about Paulaharju — it's too subjective, idealistic and imaginative. Statistics are objective as they are based on facts! Or... are they?

I learned something new about some words. The Finnish word “Ruija”, used for the Finnmark area, could also mean “Northern Lights”, like the old Norwegian name Haalogaland (Haleugir = High flames), which is the name of the area including Nordland, Tromsø and Finnmark.

An other interesting point is the term “Terra Feminarum” that originates from the medieval chronicle of Adam of Bremen (1073-76). It's possible that the “Land of the Women” refers to the Kvenland — or not. Maybe this connection is based on a misunderstanding, because the words “Kven” and Swedish “kvinne” (a woman) are so similar. But maybe we could use a little imagination. In the Finnish-Karelian mythology The North (Pohjola) was a matriarchal country led by the Matron of the North (Pohjolan emäntä). It's interesting that life in some Russian Karelian villages is still based on a matriarchal system! Is there some connection between Karelia and Kvenland?

If you have heard anything about Kalevala (the collection of stories from Karelian mythology collected and edited by Elias Lönnrot) you know the story about Sampo. The Matron of the North asked the smith called Ilmarinen to make “Sampo” — an object that could create happiness and richness. These elements: North, looking for happiness and better possibilities for life — isn't there a very strong connection to the history of the Kvens and the Finnmark area, the coasts of the Arctic Sea? Is the Kvenland the same land that the one of Sampo — the fantastic object embodying the hope for happiness, richness and a better life? Unfortunately, Sampo was broken and hidden, and nobody knows where it is now. Maybe deep in the Arctic Sea? Maybe now, when the climate is changing and the Iced Sea will be given up to the transnational corporations, it's time to search for Sampo again? But how does that end? Is Sampo actually the reason for misfortune and restlessness? Such interesting questions — and such ones for our time!

1.3.2017. Wednesday

Yesterday I left from Rovaniemi to Inari by bus. Today I continued the journey by a mail car to Utsjoki to Teno Researcher Center. After watching Iivo Niskanen's gold skiing I continued the trip with a researcher who works in Vadsø. The evening was turning dark when we arrived to Vadsø.

2.3. Thursday

I visited in the library and got a card, so that I can borrow books. Some notes: — is Kven language especially a spoken language? There are not so many books in Kven language.   — What position does the Finnish language has in relation to the Kven language? — Meanings of the term “Kven”. — Attitudes: a local language — thought to be “poorer” than the Finnish language? — Comparing the situation of the Kven language with the background of my own language history. The hidden (in the case of my family — my father is a teacher, as well as his father, and I think that the education is the reason why their spoken language turned closer to the standard written language) dialect of Torne Valley Finnish which is very close to Meänkieli (an official minority language in Sweden). The dialect in Torne Valley is still somehow the language of my heart — but to me it is more familiar from literature, rather as a spoken language!

3.3. Friday

In the Varanger museum Notes: — The building used to be the house of NRK. Monumental and pompous, the symbol of the power of the State of Norway. The symbol of Norwegianisation? — Local architecture versus national architecture like the NRK building, the church and so on. — Is the Immigrant Monument also the symbol of the power of the State?

7.3. Tuesday

I found a book called “Solgunni muistelee — Solgunn forteller” (Memories of Solgunn) There was a poem “Oma kieli”, The language of one's own.

“Taivas oon suuri Tätđet loistavat kirkkaasti maailman lapsille

Maailman lapset puhhuuvat ommaa kieltä --- Pikku Vili on kainulainen

ja hän puhhuu ommaa kieltä

Nyt hän ei tartte pölätä ette saapi sölkhään ko hän puhhuu ommaa kieltä”

I tried to translate it somehow:

|The sky is so wide Stars twinkle brightly to the children of the World

Children of the World speak the language of their own

--- The little Vili is a Kven and he speaks the language of his own

Now he doesn't need to worry to get battered when he speaks the language of his own”.

How true that is! I have heard many of this kind of stories also in Finnish Lapland. Too many painful stories (not only mentally, but also physically painful).

8.3. Wednesday

I drew a landscape from the window of the residency. On the picture I wrote the forecast information from yr.no, in Kven language — I understood it better than Norwegian or North Sami. 

— Measurement, monitoring, statistics. — Is it possible to measure a landscape? — Is it possible to measure experiences and emotions? — Is it possible to measure the meanings of the landscape?

Does the statistics tell the truth about the reality? Are the statistics objective? Lassi Saressalo explains in his study how the State of Norway gathered statistics about ethnic groups of Finnmark area. First there were three different options: are you Norwegian, Sami or Kven? But then they simply dropped out the question about the Kven background. During many decades there were only two possible ethnic identities: Norwegian and Sami. This is how the bureaucratic power and violence work! In Western countries we still believe that we are innocent, that we didn’t treat our minorities the same way than in totalitarian countries. The murder of culture happens somewhere else... we believe so strongly that we are on side of truth, there is a lack of words to describe the differences between the official and the “real” truth. For example, in Russian language this kind of separation is created by two words: the word “pravda” means official or common truth (based not only on facts but also beliefs and opinions), whereas the word “istina” means the “real” truth based on real facts.

My work deals with the difference between these terms, two kinds of truths: — the difference between official and actual reality; — the difference between the national and the local points of view; — the difference between knowledge and experience.

But how I could say (or show) anything true? Could I find the right answers? No, I couldn't claim that I understand or know anything about the reality of Kven / Norwegian Finnish people. But maybe I could ask something? Could I make some pictures about these questions?

[kielovesi]

Samuli Paulaharju: Suomenselän vieriltä (1930)

[bookoffixedstars]

An old housewife at Nirrola baking bread and daughter-in-law Saara Valle making cheese, 1914. Photo: Samuli Paulaharju. Source: Archive of Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.