Sámi network Dáiddadállu wins Munch prize for artistic freedom

A Sámi artists' network that puts Indigenous ideas on major art stages has won Norway's Munch Award for artistic freedom of expression.

Dáiddadállu will receive NOK 300,000 (around £24,000) with the prize, The Art Newspaper reported on 29 September 2026. The award honours work that defends the right of artists to speak freely.

The network was founded in 2014 by Elle Sofe Sara and Máret Ánne Sara. It is built as a small administration working alongside 22 artist partners. That structure lets artists share studios, support and practical help while keeping their own practices.

Judges acknowledged Dáiddadállu for actively inserting Indigenous knowledge and perspectives into established art worlds. In plain terms, that means bringing Sámi stories, skills and ways of thinking into galleries, museums and events where they have often been missing. The prize citation puts the focus on access. Who gets room, and on whose terms.

Many visitors in Britain will already have seen one result. Máret Ánne Sara presented the work Goavve-Geabbil in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London. The Turbine Hall is the gallery's huge entrance space for extra-large shows. Her project was made for the Hyundai Commission, the annual invitation to create a new work for that space.

The Munch Awards were launched in 2024 and are given annually in honour of Edvard Munch, the Norwegian modernist. MUNCH in Oslo, the museum that holds much of his work, describes its Munch Award as recognising an artist who has shown courage and integrity across a career, according to the museum's website. The inaugural prize went to Brazilian artist Rosana Paulino.

What makes this stand out is the choice of a group rather than one name. This year's award goes to a working network. It rewards the system around the art as much as any single show.