Liisa-Rávná Finbog

Dr. Liisa-Rávná Finbog/Rámuavuol Liisa-Rávdná is a Sámi Indigenous scholar, duojár, author, and curator. Moving between Sámi aesthetics and the materiality of creative practices, she navigates the dynamics between art and politics of indigeneity in her work. She was co-curator of the first Sámi Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale and is the inaugural curator of Indigenous Art and Discursive Programming at the Munch Museum in Oslo. Since 2024, she is also on the board of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA). A founding member of Hásstuheaddji collective, Finbog helps lead a Sámi think-tank that gathers thinkers, performers, and artists to dialogue and reflect on topics of decolonization and social justice. In 2023, she co-founded the Bárru Indigenous Academic Collective, which is an expansive and equitable gathering of Arctic Indigenous scholars, thinkers, and communities. She is also the author of It Speaks To You – Making Kin of People, Duodji, and Stories in Sámi Museums (2023, Dio Press) and co-editor of the celebated anthology, Circumpolar Connections: Creative Indigenous Geographies of the Arctic (2025, Wesleyan University Press). Her next book, which will be on Feminist art, is forthcoming on Thames & Hudson.

Geažideami: Curating a decolonial aesthetics (from a Sámi perspective)

In recent years, the Nordics has seen an increasing interest in Indigenous art – both locally, but also on a globl scale. The presentation and curation of this art, however, (all too often) remains a product of  non-Indigenous intent. Moving beyond colonial impositions on the meaning of what constitutes ‘art’ and curatorial practice, this talk is a reflection on how aesthetic and curatorial practices must be grounded within sovereign Indigenous contexts through an act of decolonization. Decolonizing aesthetics and practice require a fundamental shift away from the hegemonies of a Western-centric framework, centering instead Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and creating. Inviting listeners to consider appropriate contexts for sharing Indigenous elements of aesthetic traditions, the intent is to examine curatorial practice through use of Sámi concepts and broader Indigenous philosophies.