I Am – A Film About the Art of People Living in the Tundra: Contemporary Art

Directed by Markku Lehmuskallio

The second half of this two-part work of anthropological research, during which he met Anastasia Lapsui in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. Seven years in the making, this film became the turning point in Lehmuskallio’s artistic path. “I started from Inuit poetry. I believe that paintings are also poetry. (…) They were kept behind glass: I could not touch them, I could not feel the warmth left by their creators. Inside myself, I could hear their voices. It was like an assignment from them: I had to show them to the world through myself, through my brain and soul.” (Lehmuskallio)