New Genre Arctic Art and Art Education Exhibition : Sustainable Portraits, 2024

This exhibition shows young people’s engagement in art to create an environmental, social, and cultural self-portrait, Sustainable Portraits, which shows who I am (and we are) in history, in my locality, in my family, in my local community, in my environment. The focus is on “me” and “us” as active contributors to sustainability, the fow of life, and the living nature, portraits of connectedness and participation. The Sustainable Portraits showcases collaborative art of youth and local artists. In Greenland, the youth focus on connectedness to locality and people. In Finland, young participants refected on identity and life in the north and the other group focused on contemporary versions of portraits as media art visioning sustainable futures. In Sweden, some students explored identity via digital self-portraits, carefully selecting attire, attributes, and techniques to convey cultural narratives, while another group aimed to challenge fashion norms. In Norway, the focus was on engaging tourists in sustainability actions through a photography project. Put together, the exhibition displays engaging art that prompts refection on sustainability through exploring new forms of portraits.