Traditional Finnish saunas are different for women compared to those for men, mainly due to the many transitions in the lives of women that influence the diverse activities that women undertake in the space of healing, nursing, cleansing, resting, and even dreaming. Performance and photo documentary activities took place within the space of such a sauna in northern Lapland, specifically a wooden-heated sauna in the Keropirtti, a large log cabin that was built in the 1950s near Pyhä Tunturi (Holy Peak). There, the research team of the University of Lapland addressed the social anxieties associated with climate change, especially in the fragile environment of the Arctic and Finnish Lapland, which is also the homeland of the indigenous Sámi people and provides their livelihood. The performance took place on a cold day with outside temperatures dropping to minus 24 degrees. We, the creators, had planned to capture photographic documentation of a performance in the snow and natural environment of Pyhä, but the cold weather kept us inside. For practical reasons, as the space was cozy and warm, artist-researcher Satu Miettinen conducted experimental photography in the sauna when the idea emerged that the space could be used for documenting the performance. Miettinen was attracted to the soft light and ambiance that enabled her to capture a specific photographic quality based on contrasts created by the warm light of the fireplace. Artist-researchers Heidi Pietarinen and Melanie Sarantou executed the performance while wearing garments that may (not) be considered fashionable. One garment was created by Sarantou partly from recycled materials such as silver foil from commercial water bladders and white tulle. The other, worn by Pietarinen, was a classic black reused formal dress. It was an unusual choice to wear such fashion due to the Finnish tradition that no clothing, or at least only natural fibers, especially linen, cotton, and wool, should be worn in a sauna.

Read more in Documents of Socially Engaged Art book. Sarantou, M., Miettinen, S. & Pietarinen, H. (2021). Documenting Sauna Stories: Naked Narratives on Fashion and Culture. In R. Vella & S. Sarantou, M. (Eds.), Documents of Socially Engaged Art (pp. 76–91). InSEA Publications