Rahčamušat
Struggles
Wind turbines stand on reindeer pastures, a copper mine is planned above a salmon fjord, and a sacred mountain is marked for industry. Across Sápmi, Sámi communities are defending their land and water. These posters were made for those struggles. They were carried in demonstrations, brought to court and sold to support the resistance.
Where the struggles are
Six places, from the South Sámi mountains to the fjords of Finnmark, and the capital where the decisions are made. Select a place on the map or go straight to a chapter.
- 1Fåvsen / FosenWind power on reindeer pastures
- 2Jyevjere / ØyfjelletA wind park across a migration route
- 3Bådåddjo / BodøLand back
- 4Sieiddeduottar / SkarvbergetA sacred mountain
- 5Riehpovuotna / RepparfjordA mine above a salmon fjord
- 6Oslove / OsloThe epicentre
- —EpilogueA longer history: Sámiid politihkalaš historjá
Fåvsen / Fosen
On the Fosen peninsula, 151 wind turbines stand on the winter pastures of South Sámi reindeer herders. The fight against them became one of the largest Sámi protests in decades.
Video: Johannes Vang
In October 2021 the Supreme Court of Norway unanimously ruled that the licences for the Storheia and Roan wind farms violated the reindeer herders’ right to practise their culture, protected by Article 27 of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The ruling did not stop the turbines. Five hundred days later, in February 2023, they were still turning, and young Sámi activists said enough. They occupied the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and blocked the entrances to government ministries in Oslo.
The actions drew broad support and dominated the Norwegian media for weeks. In the end the government apologised to the reindeer herders and admitted that the human rights violations on Fosen were still going on.
The posters in this chapter were made with the action group for these demonstrations: the 500-day actions in the spring of 2023 and the two-year demonstration that autumn.
Protesters outside the Parliament. Photo: Torjus Thesen
Baajh vaeride årrodh! / Let the mountains live. Three-colour screen print, A2, 200 ex.
Support concert for Fosen. Photo: TBA
Jyevjere / Øyfjellet
Norway’s largest wind park by installed capacity was built across a key migration route for the reindeer of Jillen-Njaarke.
The reindeer owners say it is impossible to move a herd through a wind park: the animals react to the noise and the movement, and in winter ice can be thrown from the turbine blades. The developers dispute this, and say the reindeer have been moved through the area without apparent harm.
The reindeer herding district has fought the case in Helgeland District Court, which ruled against it and ordered it to pay legal costs. Jillen-Njaarke commissioned a support poster to be used during the trials.
Støtt Jillen Njaarke! / Support Jillen Njaarke! Two-colour screen print, 50×70 cm, 75 ex.
Soptsestimmie: baajh vaeride årrodh = land back! Two-colour screen print, 40×50 cm, 50 ex.
Bådåddjo / Bodø
Baajh vaeride årrodh / land back. For three days, Soptsestimmie filled the Nordland Museum with art, music and culture.
The gathering was about the reindeer herding community’s fight to protect its heritage. It also looked at indigenous struggles in other parts of the world, and brought researchers and activists together to talk about colonial injustice.
The poster was designed for the event on commission. Prints were given as a thank-you gift to contributors.
Sieiddeduottar / Skarvberget
The mountain plateau takes its name from the sieidi, a sacred Sámi offering stone. Now a wind power company wants to build here.
The poster at a protest in Porsanger. Screenshot: NRK Ođđasat.
Fortum Nordkraft Vind wants Porsanger municipality to regulate the area around Skarvberget/Sieidi for a wind power plant. For generations the land has been used for many things: reindeer herding, fishing in the mountain lakes, hiking, skiing and travel by snowmobile.
It also holds ancient settlements, sacred sites and knowledge carried in local stories and place names. A wind power plant would turn it into an industrial zone. This is in Finnmark, where land rights are still disputed.
«The collision between modern development and indigenous heritage.»
The poster was commissioned for the protest. It shows the reindeer from the municipal coat of arms being swept away by the turbines, around a detailed sieidi. The profit from the print goes to Skuohtanjárga siida and its fight against the wind power plant.
Ellos Sieiddeduottar! / Let Sieiddeduottar live! Two-colour screen print, 40×50 cm, 50 ex.
Framed poster.
Riehpovuotna / Repparfjord
Riehpovuotna is a national salmon fjord, surrounded by traditional reindeer grazing lands.
Nussir ASA plans a large copper mine here and wants to dump its waste in the fjord.
Two posters were made in support of Natur og Ungdom’s protests against the mine: Ellos Vuotna! (2026) and Stopp Nussirgruva (2025).
The fjord is where the salmon run and where reindeer herders have moved their animals for generations.
Riehpovuotna is one of 29 national salmon fjords, yet in 2016 Nussir was granted a permit to deposit around 30 million tonnes of mine waste on the fjord floor. The permit was upheld on appeal, and an operating licence followed in 2019.
The reindeer husbandry authorities advised against the permit, and the Sámi Parliament opposes the project.
Blue Moon Metals took over Nussir in 2025, and construction began in April 2026. In June 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that a similar permit in Førdefjorden broke the EU Water Framework Directive, and the Sámi Parliament has asked the government to halt the permits in Repparfjord too.
[Caption] Photo: [credit]
Ellos Vuotna! / Let the fjord live! Two-colour screen print, 44×64 cm, 37 ex.
Stopp Nussirgruva / Redd Repparfjord. Three-colour screen print, 40×50 cm, 30 ex.
Oslove / Oslo
The decisions about every place on this map are made in Oslo, in the Storting, the ministries and the courts. That is where the actions went.
Stáhta rihkku lága! / The state breaks the law! Screen print, A2, 200 ex. First printed digitally in A3 for the demonstration.
Two years after the Supreme Court pointed out the human rights violations on Fosen, nothing had changed. A new artwork was commissioned for the two-year demonstration on 11 October.
The poster shows a Sámi woman standing in front of the Norwegian Parliament. She stands for a people who will keep demanding justice and recognition.
Variations of the motif became backdrops at concerts supporting the demonstrations and graphics for social media.
The Fosen demonstration in Oslo. Photo: Torjus Thesen.
Sámiid politihkalaš historjá
These struggles have a long history. This poster, made with historian Mikkel Berg-Nordlie, shows nine important events in Sámi political history.
Two versions: Norwegian bokmål and North Sámi. Single-colour screen print, 50×70 cm, 100 ex. of each. 300 g acid-free paper.
- 1873 · Finnmark. Vieljažiid searvi, the first Sámi member organisation, is founded and publishes Muitalægje, the world’s first Sámi newspaper.
- 1904 · Stockholm. Elsa Laula Renberg publishes the pamphlet Inför lif eller död.
- 1906 · Oslo. Isak Saba becomes the first Sámi member of the Norwegian parliament. He publishes Sámi soga lávlla, later the Sámi national anthem.
- 1917 · Trondheim. The first cross-border Sámi congress takes place.
- 1956 · Kárášjohka. The Nordic Sámi Council is established.
- 1968–82 · Guovdageaidnu–Áltá. The Alta conflict sparks a Sámi cultural and political renaissance.
- 1989–96 · Sápmi. Sámi Parliaments are established in Norway, Sweden and Finland.
- 1992 · Helsinki. Russia’s Sámi join the Sámi Council; 6 February becomes the Sámi National Day.
- 2023 · Fåvsen / Fosen. Actions against the wind turbines and the human rights violations on Fosen.
The struggles in this article are the latest part of that history.
Čájáhusat / Exhibitions
The posters from these struggles have been shown in Oslo and Guovdageaidnu, and several now belong to public collections.