Jenni Laiti | |
---|---|
Born | 1981 |
Nationality | Finnish |
Known for | Suohpanterror spokesperson |
Jenni Laiti (born 1981) is a Sámi artist and activist associated with the Suohpanterror group and the ČSV cultural movement. She is the public spokesperson for Suohpanterror, whose members otherwise remain anonymous. [1]
Born in Inari, Finland, Laiti is based in Jokkmokk, Sweden, where she herds reindeer with her husband and two children. [2] Her father was Sámi and her mother Finnish, but Sámi was not spoken in her childhood home; she later learned the language. [3] Laiti studied Sámi handicrafts and culture at Umeå University. [4]
Laiti's art includes performance art and installation pieces, which serve as a tool for her activism on climate change, decolonization, and Sámi rights. [4] [5] Laiti was the developer of the 2018 Red Line demonstration to protest the Arctic Ocean Railway. In the action, which was organized with Greenpeace, Sámi youth organization Suoma Sámi Nuorat , and Suohpanterror, people dressed in red clothing, many wearing traditional Sámi gákti, held red posts and banners to block the proposed railway alignment. [6]
In 2013, she edited the sixth edition of Elisabeth Utsi Gaup's Sámi-languages children's songbook, Suga Suga Su. [7]