30.10. — 22.11.2026, Media Box

Eanan

Single-channel video projection, stereo sound from speakers
aspect ratio 16:9, duration 5 min, year 2025
Video: Marja Viitahuhta
Music: Ánnámáret, Ilkka Heinonen, Turkka Inkilä

In this cameraless work Eanan, a luohti on earth and land, the lifegiver and cultural starting point of the Sámi people, is yoiked by indigenous musician Ánnámáret. The luohti is accompanied by electronic music by Turkka Inkilä and the jouhikko, a Karelian bowed lyre, played by Ilkka Heinonen.

The animated video work by Marja Viitahuhta is based on photographs taken by Ernst Manker and drawings by his wife, Lili Manker, depicting old Sámi drums from the book Die Lappische Zaubertrommel. The work both reveals and conceals the original drums within the noise of digitally emerging images. These images are combined with impressions of plant leaves, flower petals, earth and salt, created on film using printing, painting and phytogram techniques on film.

The work explores the indigenous people’s relationship with the land, their environment and their cultural heritage. It also reflects on what has been preserved of Indigenous spiritual traditions, and how these traditions have been othered, lost or erased as a result of colonisation. Ánnámáret serves as the initiator and convenor of the working group.

We thank Jan Manker for permission to use the images.

Marja Viitahuhta is a media artist whose works have included short films, performances, installations, photographs and collages. She holds a degree in performance art from the Turku Academy of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts. Her works have been presented internationally at film festivals, concert stages, theatre and performance art events, and fine art exhibitions in galleries and museums. Her works have won awards, including at the Cannes Film Festival, and have been acquired for the collections of MoMA, Kiasma and the Saastamoinen Foundation. The video work Nieguid duovdagat, set to music by Ánnámáret, Inkilä and Heinonen, was also acquired for Kiasma’s collections in 2021. In addition to her artistic work, Viitahuhta has worked as an art teacher and lecturer at Aalto University, the University of Oulu, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Academy of Turku University of Applied Sciences, among others. Viitahuhta has also served on the board of the artist-led Galleria Huuto and the board of Kiila ry.

Ánnámáret, also known as Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, is a yoiker and musician who belongs to the indigenous Arctic people, the Sámi. Ánnámáret’s recognizable yoik sound and interpretations are a direct continuation of the Reindeer Sámi culture of her ancestors. In recent years, Ánnámáret has studied her family’s yoik or luohti tradition by studying old luohti archive recordings. As a result of this work, she and her multidisciplinary group created a whole that combines luohti, jouhikko and electronic music with video art. This unique combination of old and new brought Ánnámáret to the world music genre, and Ánnámáret and her team were selected as the official Womex 2023 showcase artist. Ánnámáret’s Bálvvosbáiki album was released in August 2024.

Ilkka Heinonen is a Helsinki-based musician and composer specializing in folk and world music, playing the jouhikko, double bass, violone and viola da gamba. As one of the pioneers of jouhikko playing, Heinonen has strived to expand the instrument’s possibilities, drawing influences from European jazz, Renaissance music and Karelian jouhikko music. In addition to bands influenced by European folk music cultures, Heinonen has worked as a soloist and in orchestras in contemporary and early music concerts and projects. Heinonen is completing his artistic doctorate on the expressive possibilities of the jouhikko in the Sibelius Academy’s MuTri doctoral training programme.

Turkka Inkilä is a Helsinki-based musician, composer and sound designer. He is interested in the dialogue between different musical genres and traditions. Inkilä is involved in the Ánnámáret project of yoiker Anna Näkkäläjärvi -Länsman, in the electroacoustic band Tölöläb, and performs with the Japanese shakuhachi flute. Ánnámáret’s debut album Nieguid Duovdagat, produced by Inkilä, was awarded the title of Folk Music Album of the Year 2021, and was nominated for Etno Emma. Ánnámáret: Bálvvosbáiki, produced by him, was awarded the Folk Music Album of the Year 2024. He has done sound design for, among others, plays by Akse Pettersson, as well as video works by Saana Wang, Sasha Huber and Petri Saarikko, and Riikka Vuorenmaa’s concept work Pienet Pimeät. Inkilä is a flutist who graduated from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and studied composition at the Sibelius Academy as a student of Juhani Nuorvala. He has studied shakuhachi music of the Kinko school privately with Gunnar Jinmei Linder from Stockholm University and jazz musician Jone Takamäki.