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Local people attending a workshop in Russian Karelia

Living Villages

The purpose of Living Villages, carried out in 2014–2015, was to reinforce and revitalize the language and cultural identity of small linguistic minorities through participatory art and science. The project took place in villages where minority languages are spoken in Finnish Lapland, Russian Karelia and Estonia. Our project group consisted of philologists, artists and local activists and we worked among the local inhabitants.
Printing t-shirts in the Karelian language
T-shirts printed in the Karelian language: "Jasa loves Katja", "I love Karelian language"
T-shirt printed in the Karelian language: "I am Karelian"
Shop-Attack in Vieljärvi, Russian Karelia. The sign promises a free shopping bag for those who do their shopping in the Karelian language.
Inside Shop-Attack, the promise of a free shopping bag is repeated.
In Shop-Attack, item names are written in the Karelian language
Village signs in the Karelian language