Gullat | Tia Keobounpheng

The exhibition takes inspiration from “VUOIŊŊALAŠVUOHTA: An essay on the Sámi People’s Spiritual Connection to Land” by Harald Gaski, who retells the Sámi origin story where the Creator placed the living, beating heart of a two-year-old female reindeer into the earth. In times of hardship, the Sámi people could press their ear to the ground and hear its steady pulse as an enduring source of hope and confidence in the future.

Gullat is a Northern Sámi word meaning both “to hear” and “to belong to a place.” While these meanings are disparate in English, within the Indigenous worldview they are connected through Vuonjal, the young reindeer.

This exhibition considers our ability to hear on a spiritual level as an act of belonging and a reciprocal relationship with the land that exists beyond ownership, stressing the interconnectedness between community, environment and the land. Presented at a time when Minneapolis faces profound political strain, the exhibition GULLAT emphasizes the urgency of collective listening.

GULLAT debuts Tia Keobounpheng's new series, INGRAIN, that advances her ongoing exploration of geometry as a visual language rooted in the earth’s natural order. While earlier works used patterns to reflect diverse communities within a shared system, these new works directly summon nature, creating a dynamic dialogue with these geometric structures.

Tia Keobounpheng (American, born 1977) is a multimedia artist drawing from historic, ancestral, and epigenetic influences. Her art reflects a journey of personal reconciliation with her Finnish and Sámi heritage. Keobounpheng holds a BA in Architecture from the University of Minnesota. Her work has been widely exhibited nationally, including a recent solo exhibition, Revealing Threads, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2023. This will be her third solo exhibition with Weinstein Hammons Gallery. Keobounpheng lives and works in Minneapolis.

The artist would like to express her gratitude to Harald Gaski, Lennart Sammelin, Mari-Ann Nutti, Elin Kåven, Julie Whitehorn, and Nina Woods.

Gallery Hours:
Wed - Sat: 12pm - 5pm

Image: Ingrain No14, 2026, pencil, colored pencil, rubio stain, thread on wood, 48 x 96 inches