Trambo

2014

4min

The video shows the artist in Sámi costume bouncing on a trampoline in a snowy landscape. In between bouncing, she drags the trampoline through the snow - an exhausting exercise judging by her heavy puffing. Marja Helander is a descendant of the Ohcejohka (Utsjoki) Sami on her father's side. Many of her works deal with the challenges of straddling two cultures as part-Finn, part-Sámi. In her early series of photographs The Generations, she juxtaposes self-portraits with old family snapshots and archival material from the Finnish Heritage Agency.