Carola Grahn (b. 1982) is a South Sámi artist. Her practice critically examines human estrangement from nature and the destructive legacy of colonialism, which continues to inflict suffering on natural and human communities.
Interweaving dark humour with warm invocations of community, Grahn embeds references to Western popular culture and art history as a foil to the Sámi worldview and holistic understanding of nature that forms the enduring core of her art.
Photo: Martin Lang
Carola Grahn: Vearalden Olmai, 2023/25. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen
Vearalden Olmai, 2023
Artwork location: Vallisaari Island
Vearalden Olmai is an installation on Vallisaari Island invoking pictorial motifs decorating the drumskin of an ancient Sámi drum. Once regarded as sinful objects in Christian belief, countless Sámi drums were confiscated and destroyed by colonizers. The few surviving sacred drums are irreplaceable heritage emblems of the Sámi belief system, worldview and communal history. Used both as instruments of divination and sacred ritual objects, the drums bore patterns symbolizing both the physical world and the otherworldly realm of the spirits.
The title of Grahn’s installation, Vearalden Olmai (literally ‘Man of the World’), refers to a Sámi celestial deity believed to protect and maintain the cosmos. Opening a gateway between two worlds, the installation fuses physical reality with the spirit realm beyond, imbuing Vallisaari Island with the magical energy of a sieidi, a Sámi sacred place.
The artwork production is supported by the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Carola Grahn: Panorama Series I, V, IV, II, III, 2025. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen
Panorama Series I, II, III, IV, V, 2025
Artwork location: HAM Helsinki Art Museum
Carola Grahn also appears in HAM’s south gallery with a selection of new works from her Panorama Series. In these works, half a reindeer hide forms a steep cliff – or perhaps a violent wave – and a dot is transformed into the moon in the night sky. The artist’s interest in the abstract is spurred by her search for a kind of primordial image that humankind has gazed upon throughout time, independent of human thoughts or actions.
The artwork production is supported by the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Foundation.