Chill Survive

It was not only my first time to get to know Kuusamo and its surroundings, but also my first time to be actively involved in the Chill Survive Network. And I’m very glad I did! In a week time I found inspiration worth a month, fed my wish to focus on Finland and human relation with nature, and – perhaps most important – made new friends. As a multi-faceted group of artists, all with our own experiences and interests, we explored the local history and the contemporary mining activities. This way I learned about local building techniques, folk beliefs, mercury poisoning, radio-activity, micro-bacterial ecosystems in turf houses, visual representations of Kalevala-healings, and the tragic death of many local noaidi (shamans). Our fieldwork included a trip to the Juomasuo mine. This open pit mine is a study location pur sang: here an Australian mining company studies the local ore as they hope to extract uranium and gold. We deeply hope they will not. No matter

Pia embarking to record Lokka. Photo: Lauri Linna After almost a month in Kuusamo with Tinna Greatarsdottir, Sigurjón Hafsteinsson, Rosanne van Klaveren, and Lauri Linna, I returned to my home in Inkoo via Savukoski, Tanhua, Sodankylä and eventually Rovaniemi, from where I started my long journey back to the Southern part of Finland.  I went to Savukoski to meet Anu Tossavainen, who was willing to meet with me and drive with me to Tanhua to Pessijoentie, to look for the site of eight unearthed graves. Archeologists think two of the graves belonged to noidas - one of them converted to Christianity, one not. (I will post my notes from visiting these graves soon.)  But I was looking for traces of the story of seven noidas who - the legend tells us - committed suicide once the new preacher told them that anyone holding on to sami beliefs and cosmology will burn in hell. I did not find them in Tanhua, I found something in Sodankylä, by the river bank of the old