Matti Aikio (FI)

Matti Aikio is a Sámi artist with roots in reindeer herding. He explores the intersection of modern Western society and indigenous cultures, their relative worldviews and conceptions of space and time, with a particular interest in the conflict between their use of natural resources, arising from their fundamentally different approaches to nature. 

Combining moving image, sound, text, and photography, Aikio raises issues about the Sámi truth and the reconciliation process, cultural appropriation and Sámi self-determination. 

He was part of the Ocean Fellowship 2022, at Ocean Space in Venice with TBA21 Academy in 2022. He is currently a Sámi Fellow 2023 at Vera List Center for Art & Politics, New School, New York and one of the artists of the next Biennial of Helsinki 2023.