Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB2E, Shelf DR109

Everybody has a right to his own culture

Poster
1989 (designed and printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

“Small nations, too, need protection”, commented poster designer Enn Kärmas on the underlying idea for this poster.

The poster features the silver adornment worn by a woman in Setu folk costume – a large conical brooch, surrounded by chains of silver coins and pieces. Such ornamental abundance is unique in Estonia.

The Setu people are a small ethnic minority living in South-East Estonia. For centuries, they have lived between two worlds with Orthodox Russia in the east and formerly Catholic, but now Lutheran, Estonia in the west. The language, customs and folk costumes of the Setu people have influences from both sides. Above all, however, they have kept their own regional distinctiveness. The Setu language is one of many South-Estonian dialects and is not usually understood by people from North-Estonia. The Setu folk costumes bear both Russian and ‘Fenno-Ugric’ elements (the term ‘Fnno-Ugric’ describes the Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian languages and the cultures in which they have been spoken). Setu culture was in decline in the 1980s and symbolised a potentially dark future for Estonians and Estonian culture under Soviet rule.

In September 2009 the Setu style of singing, leelo, was included to the UNESCO World Heritage List.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Everybody has a right to his own culture (generic title)
  • Pro-democracy Poster Collection (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Colour offset lithograph on paper
Brief description
Political poster, Estonia ca 1990. RF 90/1332
Physical description
Poster
Dimensions
  • Height: 89cm
  • Width: 57.5cm
Credit line
Given by Kevin Propbert
Summary
“Small nations, too, need protection”, commented poster designer Enn Kärmas on the underlying idea for this poster.

The poster features the silver adornment worn by a woman in Setu folk costume – a large conical brooch, surrounded by chains of silver coins and pieces. Such ornamental abundance is unique in Estonia.

The Setu people are a small ethnic minority living in South-East Estonia. For centuries, they have lived between two worlds with Orthodox Russia in the east and formerly Catholic, but now Lutheran, Estonia in the west. The language, customs and folk costumes of the Setu people have influences from both sides. Above all, however, they have kept their own regional distinctiveness. The Setu language is one of many South-Estonian dialects and is not usually understood by people from North-Estonia. The Setu folk costumes bear both Russian and ‘Fenno-Ugric’ elements (the term ‘Fnno-Ugric’ describes the Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian languages and the cultures in which they have been spoken). Setu culture was in decline in the 1980s and symbolised a potentially dark future for Estonians and Estonian culture under Soviet rule.

In September 2009 the Setu style of singing, leelo, was included to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Collection
Accession number
E.99-1991

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdMarch 2, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSON