About Aejlies
Located in the heart of the core Sami region, the Aejlies Sami Centre in Tärnaby is a multifaceted and flexible contemporary Sami cultural institution that is rich in content. We are a cultural centre and museum under development, characterised by Sami norms.
Aejlies is a meeting place, a knowledge centre, a Sami museum, an art residence, a showroom and a creative node with rooms for arts and crafts, a sound studio, conference facilities, etc. Aejlies has been established in our own premises in Tärnaby where we carry out expansive activities. We organise courses, public programmes, exhibitions and more. We collaborate with Sami organisations, artists and cultural representatives, who are also able to use our premises and resources based on their own needs.
Aejlies has been created BY Sami people FOR Sami people. Aejlies’ activities are focused on the Sami people and Sami culture, on cultural heritage, history and the present day, as viewed and communicated by the Sami people themselves. The Aejlies concept has evolved from long-standing Sami needs and is now being developed in a new era where the knowledge, claims and rights of indigenous peoples are being increasingly respected. Aejlies meets many needs in the Sami community, in Sápmi and in Sweden, and is an institution that has been missing in the Sami and the Swedish cultural landscape.
A Sami museum is also being developed under the auspices of Aejlies. We bring together tangible and intangible knowledge and make the most of the region’s resources in the form of memories, knowledge, objects and experiences, linking the present-day living Sami culture with customs and traditions. We are creating the Sami museum with a series of specific, purposeful steps. One of these steps has been the development of Aejlies’ permanent exhibition Eabnoe – Vuođđu, which brings together fifty or so craftsmen and creators with a connection to Dearna/Tärnaby. We are also establishing platforms for contemporary artistic expression. We focus on the need to capture and spread narratives from the Sami people’s local history and environment through documentation and field work.
Aejlies is a member of the Sami cultural network Viermie K, which is one of the centre’s founders. The aim of the network is to create a common and strong organisation that can work at national, regional and local level to promote and safeguard the best interests of Sami cultural life.
The term Aejlies is a Southern Sami word that can be translated as sacred, healthy or sound