Creative workshops for the youth imagine sustainable living in the Arctic

The three universities involved are part of a network of educational and research institutions known as the University of the Arctic. The Sustainable Portraits Project emerged in connection with a larger initiative, New Genre Arctic Art Education (AAE), a collaboration between two thematic networks of UArctic: Arctic Sustainable Arts, Design and Visual Culture (ASAD) and Children of the Arctic: Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Development.

Art is a driving force for raising awareness about the environmental crisis that we are currently facing, and it serves as a fertile medium to explore new ideas and sustainable practices. In Sustainability Portraits, artmaking provided powerful tools for decolonisation, the revival of traditional knowledge, and for connecting with local histories and environments.

Fifteen workshops took place in Greenland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Participants were invited to create self-portraits that explored their ways of being in the world. In this way they could visualise their relationship to larger wholes such as the natural environment, culture, society, and livelihood. In the process, youths got the opportunity to practice at various artistic media and realising community events, where a special dynamic of trust between photographer and model was established.

In Greenland, for instance, members of Siunissaq facilitated distinct workshops for teachers and students of Majoriaq Centre in Maniitsoq. Through writing and photographic portraits, participants highlighted their sense of belonging to a group and the importance of supporting each other.

After the workshops, the local community could gather to appreciate their outcomes during dedicated events. Seminars were arranged for educators and university students too. Works produced in each location were displayed locally and later brought together in a joint exhibition presented in Umeå, Karasjok, Bodø and Rovaniemi. In so doing, the project succeeded with its aim to connect people across the Arctic and amplify their visions of sustainability within the Nordic countries.

Photo: Siunissaq

Aesthetics and creative practices lie at the heart of the project’s methodologies: Art-Based Action Research. This type of research, often carried out in real-life contexts, aims to generate new knowledge in close collaboration with communities and local stakeholders. Such an approach would make the research process not only more dynamic and creative, but also democratic and open to diverse forms of knowledge.

The project has generated knowledge on sustainability in the Arctic, but also on the very educational and research practices it employed. This insight is now being shared through publications and dissemination. The experience gained through Sustainable Portraits has moreover contributed to develop further initiatives. As part of AAE, a Nomadic Hub hosting local and international workshops was set up in Narsaq; Lessons of the Land reaches over to Canada; a third initiative aimed to bring voices from Arctic and Northern communities to the attention of decision-makers—voices like those put forth through art-based research in Sustainability Portraits.

For further reading: 

Final publication

Exhibition catalogue (Bodø) 

Exhibition catalogue (Rovaniemi)