Book chapter: With the Land’s Voice and Ours: Analysis of the Media Art Workshop in Sápmi, Utsjoki
Suvi Autio and Mirja Hiltunen share results of the Lessons of the Land project.
This chapter examines how Land-Based Education can be meaningfully integrated with digital media education through collaborative filmmaking, grounded in the theoretical framework of new genre Arctic art education.
Drawing on a documentary-style film project with students, the study explores how scriptwriting, filming, and on-site recording enacted relational and performative learning processes aligned with Indigenous Land-Based Education principles.
Suvi Autio
Through collective storytelling and new genre Arctic art practices, students articulated images of the future rooted in cultural heritage, lived relationships with the Land, and contemporary ecocultural concerns. The findings highlight film as a powerful medium for expressing locally grounded future imaginaries, fostering cultural reflection, and supporting sustainability transformation.
By positioning the Land as both subject and co-author, the study demonstrates how audiovisual storytelling can amplify existing worldviews, support sustainable agency, and create spaces for cross-cultural dialogue in education.
Autio, S. & Hiltunen, M. (2025). With the Land’s Voice and Ours: Analysis of the Media Art Workshop in Sápmi, Utsjoki. In M. Huhmarniemi, K. Burnett, & A. O’Grady (Eds.), Relate North: Lessons of the Land (pp. 14–41). InSEA Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24981/2025-RNLL
Images: The students kick sleighing (image 1), and a student making a snow angel (image 2); these are examples of ecocultures and knowledge. Still images from the film With the Land’s Voice and Ours: Suvi Autio, 2025.
