niilas helander: If I am the lake you take your face from

my pronouns are
fox, wolf, and goshawk

 a river 
 running 

 through 
 me, who

 are you

niilas helander is an artist and poet from Álletnjárga in Sápmi, now living in Athens, whose work is infused by Sámi epistemology in relation to the constraints imposed by Western law. Issues relating to land ownership and exploitation are specifically addressed as a kind of ecological contract. If Sámi law is a law of nature, a spiritual law, how can we then live within it? The river says, I am the law, and overflows every spring.

We hollow the mountains, we cut down the forests, we prevent the free movement of reindeer, we destroy rivers and lakes, we poison the air, we set up borders—racism just makes the Sámi law impossible.

Through found footage, text, drawing and sculpture an intricate proof of state policy and oppression is brought forward alongside testimonies of the continuous destruction of sacred and spiritual landmarks. For the exhibition at SIGNAL works by fellow artists are invited to dialogue with helander’s own work, including Iver Jåks and Hamlet Hovsepian.