Knowing with the Sea Trout: Place-Specific Artwork for Addressing Environmental Conflict

In this chapter, I discuss a socially engaged environmental artwork titled Kuerin Matka (Kueri’s Journey) and its related video work. The artwork was created in the summer of 2018 in collaboration with the Art Äkäslompolo art event. In response to local wishes, the event critically considered the plan for the Hannukainen iron ore mine, which was proposed to be located near the village of Äkäslompolo, adjacent to the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in northern Finland. Kueri’s Journey was carried out using an arts-based action research approach to create a dialogic space for locals to express not only opinions, worries, and fears but also wishes and hopes regarding inevitable environmental and cultural changes. At the core of the chapter is the concept of new genre Arctic art, which is used to reflect on contemporary art that actively considers changes in the northern and Arctic regions. Central to this is the encounter between Western contemporary art practices and northern ways of knowing nature. In my chapter, I elaborate on the basis of new genre Arctic art and processes of Kueri’s Journey artwork using the concepts of northern ecoculture, knowing-with, decolonization, revitalization, resilience, and Arctic sustainability transformation.