LetThe theMiracle River in Flow. Tensta (Theoria) TheA new Sovereign film by Magnus Will and Bärtås the Making of a New Worldliness. 5.2–22.411.6 –28.9 20192014 Norra Sidan Norra

översätt Konica Minolta 1

Let the River Flow protest in Europe, as was its dramatic The Sovereign Will and the Making of climax – the Sámi hunger strikes in a New Worldliness Oslo in 1979 and 1981. Moreover, the 5.2–22.4 2019 Áltá action was part of a new environ- mental consciousness in the 1970s, Jon Ole Andersen, Áillohaš/Nils-Aslak as well as the emerging histories of Valkeapää, Maria Thereza Alves, indigenous empowerment of the time. Jimmie Durham, Elle Márjá Eira, Today the dam, which was put into Mai-Lis Eira, Aage Gaup, Trygve Lund operation in 1987, is owned by Norwe- Guttormsen, Josef Halse, Geir Tore gian Statkraft, Norway’s largest energy Holm and Søssa Jørgensen, Rose-Ma- producer. rie Huuva, Berit Marit Hætta, Susanne Hætta, Iver Jåks, Keviselie/Hans Today, the action elicits bittersweet Ragnar Mathisen, Britta Marakatt-Lab- memories. Some historians claim that ba, Joar Nango och Tanya Busse, Ran- by catalysing Norway’s signature of the nveig Persen, Synnøve Persen, Máret United Nations’ ILO Convention 169 Ánne Sara, Arvid Sveen, Catarina Utsi, and the creation of a Sámi Parliament, Elin Már Øyen Vister and more. Kárášjohka, in 1989, the action ushered in a new era of Nordic decolonisation, The exhibition is produced by Office one that potentially placed Norway at for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA). the forefront of social justice policy- Its original presentation in Oslo was making worldwide. Yet a new genera- curated by Katya García-Antón with tion of Sámi artists and thinkers claim Antonio Cataldo and was honoured by that this process stalled early on, and the guidance of an Advisory Council that the very survival of Sámi culture, consisting of Sámi scholars, Prof. livelihood, and worldviews is in serious Harald Gaski and Dr. Gunvor Guttorm. danger today. At Tensta konsthall, the exhibition will be presented as part of the ‘The Eros Let the River Flow is the fruit of three Effect: Art, Solidarity Movements and years of dialogue with artists, scholars, the Struggle for Social Justice’. and other cultural peers and peoples across Sápmi (whose land traverses the Sami artists played an important role four nation-states of Norway, Sweden, in one of the biggest public actions Finland, and Russia). The exhibition linked to environmental issues and showcases the essential role of Sámi exploitation in modern times. The artists in the action, in particular the People’s Action against the Áltá-Guovd- seminal Mázejoavku: Sámi Dáidda- ageaidnu Waterway (c. 1978–1982) joavku (Sámi Artists’ Group, 1978-83), radically shook the course of history as well as the solidarity of non-Sámi in the Nordic region. Its call to “let the counterparts. It presents rare historic river live” was launched against the works, sidelined by the Nordic art-his- construction of a large dam across the torical canon and a small number of legendary Álttáeatnu River in Sápmi duodji (a specifically Sami term cover- / Northern Norway. It grew from an ing the notion of art and of handicraft), unexpectedly broad movement across as well as material from The Archives civil society, including Sámi, Norwegian, of the Protest Movement against the and international solidarity. The Áltá Damming of the Áltá-Guovdageaidnu action grew in reaction to the profound Water System, and new contemporary impact that the flooding of large areas commissions that explore the legacy of of Sápmi would have on Sámi communi- Áltá today. Let the River Flow simulta- ties, their livelihoods, cultural heritage, neously claims and challenges the place as well as on their role as environmen- of Sámi art amongst the new global, tal protectors. modernist museologies dedicated to expanding the canon of art history to a The resistance movement was unprec- world scale. edented within the history of social

4 Konica Minolta 2 Let the River Flow is curated by Katya Statement by the Advisory Council García-Antón, with Antonio Cataldo. Dr. Gunvor Guttorm and Prof. Harald The project has been honoured by the Gaski guidance of an Advisory Council con- sisting of Sámi scholars, Prof. Harald The Áltá struggle was an eye-opener Gaski and Dr. Gunvor Guttorm. The to the many insights concerning exhibition design is the result of dis- indigenous peoples’ issues. First of all, cussions between the curatorial team it demonstrated the important dialogic and a Sámi-Norwegian collaboration of connection between arts and politics, the architects A-Lab (Káre R. Anti) and which has become even more obvious Torsteinsen Design. over the last decades concurrent with a recognition of a more holistic view of our existence on this planet. Secondly, the Áltá action proved how important it is to have good allies in the struggle for Sámi and indigenous rights. Indigenous people need good relationships with supporter groups in order to make our voices heard. The strongest foundation for this allied activity is the shared views among indigenous peoples all over the world, emphasizing belief in the strength of our traditional values and worldviews.

The Sámi took an active part in the global indigenous peoples’ movements from the very beginning, represented through the endeavors to establish a worldwide collaborative political and cultural organization for indigenous peoples, namely the World Council of Indigenous Peoples, WCIP. The first as- sembly of this body consisted of politi- cal deliberations, but also functioned as popular gatherings where the cultural get-togethers that followed the political meetings strengthened the continuity of the fight. Even the pale-faced Sámi were accepted as an Arctic indigenous group in Port Alberni at the founding congress of the WCIP in the mid-1970s when the Native peoples from the southern regions heard the powerful juoigan (traditional Sámi vocal genre) performed by one of the artists in the Sámi delegation – namely Áilloháš, who is also represented in this exhibition. Áilloháš was elected to serve as the cultural coordinator of the WCIP. As such he took the initiative to organize an indigenous peoples’ festival, “a Woodstock of the North” – the Davvi Šuvva festival in Gárasávvon in 1979 in the heartland of Sápmi, close to where the national borders of Norway,

3 Konica Minolta 3 Sweden, and Finland meet. Let the River Flow is presented at Tensta konsthall as a part of the pro- The 1970s were a very politicised and ject ‘The Eros Effect: Art, Solidarity powerful decade in Sápmi, bringing Movements and the Struggle for Social forth a well-educated generation of Justice’, which borrows its title from scholars, politicians, and artists who the researcher and activist George N. spoke and performed from a position Katsiaficas’s essay by the same name of self-esteem and a strong sense of from 1989. The concept aims to turn belonging to a culture filled with pride away from earlier theories that con- and endurance. And knowledge: we sidered ‘mass movements’ as primitive took pride in our epistemologies, we and impulsive emotional outbursts, or honored our myths, and we were ready as exclusively rational efforts in order to share our wisdom with the rest of to change the norms and institutions the indigenous world. of a society. With his notion of the Eros Effect, Katsiaficas suggests that social When we talk about contemporary movements always constitute both artistic approaches and expressions, and that the struggle for liberation is duodji and juoigan (yoik) are of central equally an ‘erotic’ act and a rational importance. Duodji today can be under- desire to break free from structural and stood as existing in continuity with a psychological barriers. Frantz Fanon ‘traditional’ context of Sámi craft or it made similar observations when he can be liberated from it, as a mediator stated that resistance towards colo- between the different contexts of art nialism causes positive effects on the and craft. It is possible to look at the emotional life of individuals. duodji concept as an affirmation of indigenous knowledge and experience. Such an approach forms a part of the struggles that started in the 1970s, and it demonstrates how an indigenous perspective can contribute to the global discourse of art and its interpretations today.

4 Konica Minolta 4 Artists and works differs from what is commonly known in Euro-American music, was banned as devil’s music under centuries of Nordic Áillohaš/ Nils-Aslak Valkepää suppression of Sámi culture, particu- larly by religious fundamentalists who The Sun, My Father / Beaivi, áhčážan, went as far as associating it with drunk- Book, 460 pp., 1988 enness, sin, and barbaric behaviour. Áillohaš re-kindled the yoik as a living Always ahead of his time, the iconic cultural form, introducing the unprec- Sámi artist and intellectual Áillohaš edented use of instruments. Joikuja dedicated his life to empowering Sámi (1968) was the first step in making this culture during the post-war period, Sámi practice widely available. In the and led the path to decolonisation in inaugural meeting of the World Council many ways. In 1991, he won the Nordic of Indigenous Peoples of 1975 in Port Council Literature Prize for the book Alberni, Turtle Island (Canada), Áillo- of poetry and photography Beaivi, haš’s yoik is said to have electrified the áhčážan (The Sun, My Father). Áillo- delegates present, connecting deeply haš’s work reveals the cultural destruc- with their Indigeneity. This secured the tion and social trauma that resulted acceptance of Sámi peoples within the from the Nordic colonisation of Sápmi. larger international community, at a In ‘What Goes Around Comes Around: time when legal debates for Indigenous Sami Time and the Question of Indi- rights across the globe were gaining geneity’ (2010), Prof. John Weinstock significant credence. Alf Isak Keskitalo, highlights the fact that “the Sámi are Pekka Lukkari, Ole Henrik Magga (who the most studied indigenous peoples on went on to become the first president Earth.” Áillohaš used this extraordinary of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament), fact to compile a book of nearly 400 Esko Palonoja, Aslak Nils Sara, Per photographs gleaned from archives Mikal Utsi, and Ingwar Åhren accom- around the world. The book presents panied him as representatives from imagery from the anthropological Sápmi. archives of Western museums, but also acts as “the ultimate family album As part of the social justice movement for the Sámi” (Kathleen Osgood Dana, that developed across the Nordic ‘The Native Poet as Shaman’, 2004) region demanding Sámi rights at by integrating poetry, images, and the time of the Áltá action, Áillohaš musical scores drawn from the Sámi put together a series of recordings communities he knew so well. While emblematic of the times. Sápmi, O Beaivi, áhčážan establishes the myth- Sápmi! is a recording with a circular ological cycles of life in Sámi terms, sound geometry. Field recordings of its companion piece Eanni, eannázan the peaceful region, the river around (The Earth, My Mother), published in which the controversy revolved, and 2001, embraces all indigenous cultures, the violence of the action, the ominous acknowledging the place of the Sámi buzzing of police helicopters and the amongst the over 370 million-strong sound of protesters, were interlaced global family of indigenous peoples with the yoiking of the young Sámi throughout the world. musician Ingor Ántte Áilu Gaup. In this sound work, the yoik takes on a leading role as a mediator between the cosmos, Áillohaččat (Ingor Ántte Áilu Gaup & nature, and humanity, and as the Áillohaš) guarantor of a meaningful connection between all things. Sápmi, O Sápmi! (Sápmi My Little Bird) / Sápmi, Vuoi Sápmi! (Sápmi Lottážan Nils-Aslak Valkepää, also known as I), Audio recording, 22′ 26”, 1982 Áillohaš (b. 1943 – d. 2001), was a Sámi writer, musician, and artist who The yoik, a Sámi musical form that dedicated his life to the empowerment

5 Konica Minolta 3 of Sámi cultural life and rights. He was Iver Jåks born on the Finnish side of Sápmi, and later moved to Ivgubahta (Skibotn), on Sámi culture against the grain / Bajás the Norwegian side. He trained as a guvlui viggamin Sápmái duddjomat, teacher in Giemajávri (Kemijärvi), but wood, reindeer horn, sisti (reindeer never entered the profession. Shortly skin), 1979 after receiving his education, he took on what would become his life project, Iver Jåks is considered a pioneering which first included the release of Sámi artist for bringing visibility to yoiks on LPs and developed as com- duodji at the highest level of aesthetic positions, books, photo and visual art excellence. Duodji, often mistranslated exhibitions, concerts both at home and as ‘Sámi handicraft’, is a term that abroad, publishing practice and much embraces profound layers of meaning more, including the establishment and signifies a holistic view of life and of the Sámi publishing house DAT in culture. As the Sámi scholar Irene 1984. From 1978-81 he served as Snarby argues, the concept places the artistic coordinator of the WCIP multiple practical, social, and spiritual (World Council of Indigenous Peoples), activities on an interrelated and equal and in 1979 he initiated the formation level, where the gathering, treatment, of the Sámi artist organisations Sámi and use of working materials (such Girječálliid Searvi (the Sámi Authors’ as wood or reindeer leather) are an Association) and Sámi Dáiddačehpiid integral part of Sámi epistemologies Searvi (the Sámi Artists’ Association). and belief systems. In this sense, duodji His debut as an author came with the is both the making of an item and the pamphlet ‘Terveisiä Lapista’ (1971), item itself (Irene Snarby, ‘Doudji as subsequently translated to Nynorsk Sámi experiences in contemporary art’, and English (as ‘Greetings from Lap- 2014). As a highly qualified duojár (the land’). In 1991 he was awarded the highest recognition given to a person Nordic Council Literature Prize for who has mastered this approach and Beaivi, áhčážan (The Sun, My Father). techniques), Jåks worked to reveal the In 1993 he received the jury’s special inner qualities of the materials. He tried prize in the European radio compe- to display what he called their potential, tition Prix Italia for his Goase dušše their ‘soul’. Jåks’ three-dimensional (‘Bird Symphony’), which garnered works are therefore not static pieces, great international attention. In 1994 as they transform naturally with each he received the Cultural Award of passing decade. Seemingly arranged by Eanodat (Enontekiö) Municipality. He chance, and with as few interventions was awarded an honorary doctorate as possible, they are in a process of from the universities of Oulu and gradual disintegration. As an ambassa- Roavenjárga (Rovaniemi) and received dor of Sámi culture, duodji’s perishabil- the Estonian Order of the White Star ity should be connected to the natural in 1995. He was a festival artist at the cycle of life embedded in Sámi beliefs. Arctic Arts Festival in 1991, and later his artworks were exhibited in inter- ‘Sámi culture against the grain’ relates national venues, including Japan and to changes catalysed by 1979 and the China. Among his most famous writ- resulting effects on Sámi culture. Jåks’ ings are Ruoktu Váimmus (Trekways of work inspired Sámi artists to reclaim the Wind, 1985); Eanni, eannázan (The their Sámi identity with pride. He was Earth, My Mother, 2001) and the play also a force behind what came to be Ridn’oaivi ja Nieguid Oaidni (The Frost- known as the Sámi Artists’ Group, Haired and the Dream-Seer) which having extended an invitation to five premiered in Japan in 1995, and was members of the collective to make a staged in its original Sámi language at piece for the newly erected school in the Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš in the small village of Láhpoluoppal in the 2007. municipality of Guovdageaidnu (Kau- tokeino).

4 Konica Minolta 6 Iver Jåks (1932–2007) was born as reported in Muora ii galgga sojahit into a family of reindeer herders in eambbo go gierdá: duojára Jon Ole Kárášjohka (Karasjok). He studied at Andersena birra (1999) by Synnøve the Norwegian National Academy of Persen and Bente Geving. Thus, nature the Arts and Crafts Industry (now the informs the duojár’s holistic approach. Oslo National Academy of the Arts) Although obvious to many, it is worth and at the Royal Danish Academy of stressing that duodji is based on, and Fine Arts. His education in Denmark integral to, everyday Sámi life. Duodji brought his work into dialogue with should be regarded both as an activity the European avant-gardes prominent and as a frame of mind that is central in Copenhagen at that time. Jåks was to Sámi society. Whilst it is a personal an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and a form of expression, it also embodies duojár, working with natural materials a worldview. The fact that duodji has such as wood, horn, skin, and bone. He been consistently misconceived as a looked to old Sámi culture and beliefs craft testifies to the limitations inherent for inspiration, including the patterns to comprehending duodji from the representing different layers of spiritual Western perspective of the modern. worlds found on the Sámi drums used Modernity, an historical era running for shamanistic rituals. Jåks illustrated from approximately 1650 to 1950, a number of Sámi books, and worked premised upon the European Enlight- on commissions for public buildings enment, has unraveled as a colonial such as the RiddoDuottarMuseat in period both militarily and culturally Kárášjohka and the Tromsø University speaking. Museum. He received the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award in 1992, and Jon Ole Andersen (b. 1932, Horbmá in 2002 he was given a knighthood in [Horma], Deatnu [Tana], lives and the First Order of the Royal Norwegian works in Kárásjohka) is one of Sápmi’s Order of St. Olav. The Museum of Con- foremost duojár (an expert in duodji). temporary Art (the National Museum of He holds the title of gudneduojár (Hon- Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo) held orary duojár) at the Sámi University of an Iver Jåks retrospective exhibition in Applied Sciences in Guovdageaidnu. 1998–99. Given that duodji holds the highest regard in all Sámi visual cultural ex- pression, Jon Ole Andersen is a source of inspiration not only to other duojárs, Jon Ole Andersen but also to Sámi architects, artists, and designers. He was among the Guksi, wood and reindeer horn, 1985 initiators of Duojáriid ealáhussearvi in 1998, an organisation which promotes Guksi is a drinking cup obtained from duodji. Together with Iver Jåks, Jon carved birch burl, contoured to a rough Ole Andersen was responsible for shape. Birch wood has been an impor- creating the first permanent artistic tant material in the duodji tradition, as installations of the Sámiid Vuorká- much as the burls that can be found Dávvirat (The Sámi Collections) for growing on tree trunks. For the duojár, the RiddoDuottarMuseat (RDM) in the terrain where it grows and in which Kárásjohka. The RiddoDuottarMu- direction determine connections to seat consists of exhibition spaces, the environment and the knowledge repositories, and outdoors museums. needed to treat the material. The It was established in 1972 as the first duojár Jon Ole Andersen advocates Sámi Museum in Norway with the aim gaining awareness of the tree’s dynam- of strengthening Sámi culture and ics during different parts of the year identity. Iver Jåks made reliefs and in order to understand when to cut the sculptures in the entrance hall. Jåks burl. He recommends, for example, and Andersen’s innovative display harvesting burls in the autumn or in system evokes a connection between the winter when trees are less active, the space of the museum and Sámi

7 Konica Minolta 3 cosmological worlds; Sigrid Lien and are part of reclaiming knowledge and Hilde Nielssen write that the display forms of expression forced into disap- can be seen as an effort to “undermine pearance during the Norwegianisation the conceptions of time and history of process and its Swedish and Finnish the dominant society”. The museum equivalents. They play with materials instead “inscribes itself into a Sámi in fashion during the 1980s such as conception of time and space – a Sámi silver silk thread matching the dominant understanding of reality”. A project for aesthetic whilst revitalising unique a new Sámi Museum able to host all the Sámi techniques such as the datneárpu collections has been in planning for 40 (tin thread) with skins like sisti (tanned years, and unrealised to date. reindeer hide). Starting from the 1850s, the use of Sámi languages was heavily discouraged and even forbidden in schools across the Nordic countries. Rose-Marie Huuva State economic interests in the North prevailed over Sámi culture. Swedish Evening bag / Eahketveasku, textile, settlers were encouraged to move to silk and cotton, 1985 the northern regions through incentives Bracelet / Giehtabáddi, textile, silk and such as land and water rights, tax cotton, 1985 allowances, and military exemptions. Between 1913 and 1920, a political Rose-Marie Huuva, a skilled duojár, was movement went so far in Sweden as to instrumental in fueling the so called create a race-based biological institute Sámáidahttan (Sámification) movement that collected samples from living that led to the empowerment of Sámi people and graves, and sterilised Sámi identity during the 1970s. Until then women. Through her work Huuva has there had been a rejection of Sámi brought to light knowledges and prac- cultural markers amidst Nordic society, tices which would have otherwise been and people in Sámi clothing were habitu- largely neglected as a result of these ally barred access to public places such policies. as restaurants, especially in large cities such as Oslo. In the decade leading to Rose-Marie Huuva (b. 1943, Rensjön, the Áltá action and the years that fol- Gabna Sameby, Kiruna, Sápmi / North- lowed it, clothing and accessories were ern Sweden) is a visual and textile expertly used as a tool for strength- artist, a duojár, and a poet. As a poet, ening identity, and Sámi symbols were she was first published in magazines called upon to channel this cultural and anthologies in the early 1980s. She empowerment. The pioneering work of published the poetry collection Galbma practitioners such as Huuva led to the Radna (Cold Comrade) in 1999 for revival of biesko (boots), gákti (dress), which she was nominated for Nordic and other elements of Sámi clothing Council Literature Prize in 2001. In amongst Sámi communities as well as 2003 she was awarded the Cultural amongst non-indigenous allies intent on Scholarship Rubus Arcticus. demonstrating their public support of the indigenous cause. Huuva’s work was inspirational to Sámi art practitioners who fought for recognition at this time. Catarina Utsi Huuva, who was on the committee to elect the first official Sámi flag, stitched Rucksack / Gaeblehkevoesse, Sisti, seal a copy of Astrid Båhl’s winning proposal skin, silk, 2002 (displayed in the exhibition) on the night of its selection, so it could be raised Catarina Utsi is a Sámi practitioner who the next morning for the Sámi Council grew up in a reindeer herding family in meeting, 15 August 1986. Árjepluovve (Arjeplog) on the Swedish side of Sápmi, where the reindeer Bracelet (1985) and Evening Bag (1985) provided abundant materials for duodji,

4 Konica Minolta 8 such as horn, skin, and tendons. Her the organisation Samiid Duodji which mother was a skilled duojár who cre- represents duojárs nationally on the ated objects (with so-called traditional Norwegian side of Sápmi. She is an and contemporary forms) from these advocate for the introduction of a new materials, and as such Catarina Utsi duodji certification which will protect learned many of these skills early on. the Sámi duodji traditions from appro- priation and misuse. If Nordic colonialism affected of the region for centuries, during the 1970s and 1980s the revitalization of Sámi culture also encompassed the Finnish, Sámi artists’ Group / Mázejoavku: Swedish, and Norwegian sides of Sámi Dáidda Joavku / Samisk Kun- Sápmi. Dam construction characterised stnergruppe the colonial process across Sápmi. The aggressive expansion between Logbook / Loggagirji, book, 1978-83 1971 and 1975 of the Lule River dam (first built in 1915) on the Swedish side The legendary Sámi Artists’ Group resulted in the enforced evacuation of was formed in 1978 by a generation of many Sámi families from their soon to pioneering young Sámi practitioners be submerged homes. Catarina Utsi’s who, in an unprecedented move, sought uncle, the poet Paulus Utsi, was among recognition as contemporary artists the evacuees, and one of his most while simultaneously claiming pride in famous poems, Goahtoenan, drew its their Sámi heritage. To this end they inspiration from this tragic experience. invented a new word, dáidda (adopted The artist Keviselie dedicated his poem into the Sámi language and in the name ‘Luleju’ to commemorate the Lule River of the group), that defined them as (presented in this exhibition as part contemporary in order to sideline the of his diary). Similarly, Catarina Utsi negative stereotyping that duodji had released an album titled Báze Dearvan experienced for so long and enable rec- Goahtoeanan (1990), produced by ognition by the Norwegian and Nordic Áillohaš and the Sámi publishing house artistic infrastructure. The group was DAT, using her uncle’s poems as lyrics committed to expressing their ‘Sámi- to her songs. She is also known for the ness’ freely, and to reclaiming a new Sámi language children’s album Suga space of recognition for Sápmi by ad- Suga Su released in 2001. vocating and negotiating Sámi thinking and being through the arts. The same Catarina Utsi has been practising year as their founding they decided to methods and traditions of the Southern set up their base in the small village Sámi people for decades. Utsi, who of Máze, where the Guovdageaidnu grew up with duodji, creates functional municipality had offered them a house. objects that in and of themselves insist The Sámi Artists’ Group was comprised on the continuous relevance of Sámi of Aage Gaup (b. 1943), Trygve Lund knowledge in contemporary society. Guttormsen (b. 1933 – d. 2012), Josef Rucksack is modelled from naturally Halse (b. 1951), Berit Marit Hætta (b. tanned reindeer skin, which requires 1948), Keviselie / Hans Ragnar Mathis- treating the skin with water and willow en (b. 1945), Britta Marakatt-Labba (b. bark. The seal skin embraces kindred 1951), Rannveig Persen (b. 1953), and relations between the Sámi and other Synnøve Persen (b. 1950). The group’s Arctic indigenous peoples who maintain headquarters became a meeting point many worldviews similar to that of and a catalyst of political activism for duodji. the Sámi peoples and has been a great source of creative energy in the region Catarina Utsi (b. 1960) lives and works ever since. It was also to some extent in Namsskogan, Nord-Trøndelag, in inspirational for the founding of the the Southern Sámi region. She is a Dáiddadállu artists’ group (whose work reindeer herder, duojár, and leads is included in this exhibition) and their

9 Konica Minolta 3 house in Guovdageaidnu, 2015. In 1983 1976 the Sámi Artists’ Group disbanded. The artists continued to be active practi- Ur-head / Máttaráhkku, Soapstone, tioners and settled in different parts of 1976–1981 Sápmi; only Trygve Lund Guttormsen remained in Máze, continuing to care Aage Gaup was in constant dialogue for the house until passing away in with Iver Jåks, who was both a friend 2012. The legendary Máze group was and inspiration to him. As followers of a forerunner of the Sámi Dáiddačehpiid duodji, they were both concerned with Searvi (Sámi Artists’ Union) that was the inner functionality of material; its founded in 1979, which went on to es- capacity to ‘speak’ and inspire. Gaup’s tablish the Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš (Sámi monumental sculptures and installa- Contemporary Art Centre) in 1986. tions often emphasise perishability, in keeping with the temporality of The work of the Sámi Artists’ Group nature. Sculpture I and Sculpture II was celebrated as part of documenta move between two-dimensional and 14 with the inclusion of three of its three-dimensional surfaces, eliciting a members in the exhibition. During the connection to music, specifically the course of 2017, honouring the Tråante vocal break common in yoik. The cen- 2017 celebrations, Sámediggi and tral part of the sculptures is painted in Office for Contemporary Art Norway the colours of the Sámi flag – a cele- called two gatherings (consultations bration of a dynamic culture. The Sámi and workshops curated by Sámi peers) National Theatre Beaivváš was founded in Máze in 2017 in order to advocate in the same year that Gaup’s sculptures for the relaunch of the legendary Sámi were made, providing a further anchor Artists’ Group housing and studios as for Sámi culture into the future. Gaup Máze Dáiddasiidii (Indigenous Artists’ went on to be a long-term collaborator Residency). of the company.

Elsa Laula Renberg (b. 1877 – d. 1931) Gaup was a driving force behind the from Helgeland and the Sámi women’s establishment of the Sámi National association from Brurskanken initiated Theatre Beaivváš. In 1981 he con- the first Sámi assembly which took ceived the scenography of the first place in Tråante (Trondheim) on 6-9 Beaivváš theatre play Our Moorland, February 1917. 150 participants from on the occasion of the company’s different parts of Sápmi gathered inauguration. The score was composed for this event, which is celebrated in the style of a rock opera by Áilloháš, annually as the Sámi National Day on Ingor Áillu, Aage Gaup, Halvdan 6 February. Tråante 2017 marked the Nedrejord, Svein B. Olsen, and Sverre centenary of this meeting. Hjelleset. A number of people from the Sámi Artists’ Group contributed to the production, including Josef Halse as stage manager and Synnøve Persen, Aage Gaup who wrote an accompanying text. They wrote a number of songs to tell Sculpture I and Sculpture II / Bázzi I the story of how youth in Finnmárku ja Bázzi II, wood and other materials, were dealing with the conflicts that 1987 arose when mining companies came to the moorland: “Our Moorland is a Scale model for Our Moorland (1981– musical with yoik, humour, rock, poetry, 2018) / Skalerejuvvon modealla – Min and politics, set in the time before the duoddarat, mixed media, scale model Áltá action reached its climax. The (1:25), 1981–2018 piece stages the conflict between Commissioned by OCA, 2017-2018 the reindeer herders and the mining companies, where the audience sees Uprising / Stuibmi, tempera on paper, itself in the Čávžu valley and with the

4 Konica Minolta 10 river rescuers in Stilla. Today, all of collection of 900 skulls at the Anatom- this is history. The river is going to be ical Institute in Oslo. The decapitated dammed. But the culture is a river they heads were claimed back by their can never stop” (programme booklet). ancestors – Niillas and Ánde Somby Even though a darkness had fallen on – and after years of legal debate they Sámi society in the previous two years, were returned to their descendants in the artists were focused on cultural 1997 for burial alongside their bodies. revitalisation, growth, and renewal. A different version of the motif is also The play addresses Sámi civil rights found in a small exhibition booklet in the face of outside pressure on the that the Sámi Artists’ Group made to community. While the mining com- accompany a number of group shows panies would ideally bring economic in the spring of 1979 at the Sámi benefits to the region, the effect on the Collections in Kárášjohka and the Áltá environment and on reindeer-herding Artist Association, among others. A practices would be catastrophic as the work by each member of the Sámi moorland provided a unique feeding Artists’ Group was acquired by the ground for the animals to pasture. Sámi Dáiddamágasiidna (Sámi Art Without any preparatory sketches, Repository), which is now part of the Gaup pitched his first idea for the sce- RiddoDuottarMuseat complex. The nography in a composition of matches. Sámi Art Repository is a collection of This is symbolically reminiscent of the approximately 1,300 works and is thus heated discussions of those years, still the largest collection of Sámi contem- ongoing in the Sámi territory today. The porary art and contemporary duodji in work has been recreated by the artist existence. Acquisitions are made by especially for the exhibition. a committee appointed by the Sámi Parliament consisting of members of The original sketch for this silkscreen the Sámiid Dáiddačehpiid Searvi (Sámi print, dated 1976, was painted with Artists’ Union). a knife; multiple versions of it were produced with various printing tech- While wandering Tråante (Trondheim) niques. The sketch appears on a poster when he was attending his studies at from 1977 with the words ‘8-11-1852 the Art Academy, Aage Gaup often Guov’dagæi’dno’, referring to the first passed the Nidaros Cathedral. The Sámi uprising of 8 November 1852, a building, which was begun in 1070 deadly confrontation over the exploit- and was finished sometime around ative methods used by some members 1300, defines what is known to be the of the Norwegian authorities against northernmost medieval cathedral in the Sámi peoples. From that moment the world. Throughout the centuries, on, the Norwegian state assimilation this landmark has undergone a number policies were launched in force. The of reconstructions, including one in Guovdageaidnu rebellion was part of the 1970s. Gaup obtained one of the a wider global history of conflictive resulting castaway stones, attracted by contact between indigenous and co- its signs of fragility and contradictory lonial forces (for example the Santhal durability. “It’s a broken sculpture”, rebellion of 1855–56 which was part of he said recently when speaking about the start of the decolonisation process ‘Máttaráhkku’. Máttaráhkku is the against the British in India). A large Sámi name for grandmother (not to be number of the protesters were ar- confused with Máttaráhkká, the Earth rested, and many were imprisoned for Mother goddess in Sámi mythology). life. The leaders of the uprising, Mons Here Gaup seems to make a pun on Aslaksen and Aslak Jakobsen Hætta, duration, relations, and the circularity were executed by decapitation on 14 of time that applies to all things in October 1854 for murder; their heads, nature. Gaup’s Norwegian title for the claimed by the Norwegian government work, ‘Urhode’ (‘Ur-head’), denotes a for scientific research, were held in the relation to time and nature unique to

11 Konica Minolta 3 indigenous people. mentation for a drinking-water supply scheme, he found that on one map a Aage Gaup (b. 1943) is a scenographer, dotted line of about 300 metres indicat- sculptor, and a member of the Sámi ed the upper limit of a large reservoir. Artists’ Group who has been awarded a Lund Guttormsen’s suspicions grew in number of artists’ grants and honorary 1969, when many of his neighbours’ ap- designations. Gaup has been commis- plications for building permits near the sioned for various artworks in public river were turned down by the county space, and his works are collected by agricultural office without a logical the Sámi Council, the Norwegian Arts explanation. The dam plans developed Council, the Sámi Collections in Káráš- without any public consultation; Lund johka, and the Northern Norwegian Guttormsen raised local awareness Art Museum in Romsa (Tromsø) among through the district newspaper, and this others. Together with Berit Marit quickly turned into national news. The Hætta, he was given the Hedda Award parliamentary committee that visited (2000) for the year’s best scenographer Máze in August 1970, was received by a in the play Vølundda Muitalus (The silent demonstration of local inhabitants Lay of Vølund) and he has received holding a banner proclaiming “We were the Kárášjohka Municipality Culture here first” (silence is a traditional form Award (2012). Aage Gaup has also been of dissent within Sámi communities). involved in the Cultural School and has The demonstration forced the NVE worked for the Kárášjohka Art School (the Norwegian Water Resources and since it was created, and he currently Energy Administration) to present their serves on the board. plans at a subsequent public meeting in Máze.

Within this context, the oversized figure Trygve Lund Guttormsen of a Sámi man imposed against the background landscape in Lund Guttorm- Evening / Eahket, linoleum sen’s painting ‘Evening’ (1979) speaks of print on paper, 1979 the rise of a new political consciousness in Sápmi that rides upon the collective The Sámi Parliament holding their first memory of the Guovdageaidnu uprising plenary / Sámedikki vuosttaš dievasčo- of 1852. ahkkin, acrylic painting on paper Dimen- sions, 1993 Besides his practice as an artist, Trygve Lund Guttormsen held central positions Gathering or Assembly / Čoahkkaneap- in Sámi politics. He worked as an edu- mi, acrylic painting on paper, 1993 cator and formed part of the municipal council of the Guovdageaidnu munici- The preparation for the establishment pality for a total of 20 years. ‘The Sámi of the Sámi Parliament / Ráhkkaneamen Parliament holding their first plenary’ Sámedikki ásaheapmái, linoleum block contains an important caption which print on paper, 1998 reads, “The Sámi Parliament holds its first meeting far beyond Karasjok. It’s According to Øystein Dalland, author of morning, and Steinar Pedersen is out ‘The Last Big Dam in Norway: Whose to greet the sunrise.” Steinar Pedersen Victory?’ (Dams as Aid, 1997), and started his political career in the Sámi former editor of the local newspaper Parliament in 1989 and became a Altaposten during the Áltá case, Trygve Deputy Representative of Finnmárku in Lund Guttormsen was the first person the Norwegian Parliament in 1993. The to accidentally come across the initial establishment of the Sámi Parliament in plans of the damming of the Álttáeatnu 1989 in Norway was regarded as an im- (Alta River) when he visited a regional portant development to implement Sámi engineer’s office in Áhkanjárga (Narvik) rights in the Norwegian Constitution. in the mid-1960s. In search of docu- Whilst this marked a gesture towards

4 Konica Minolta 12 self-governance, the new Sámi Parlia- working team in the Máze house. Lund ment holds but an advisory position; Guttormsen continued to live in Máze which is financially directly dependent until his passing away in 2012, and on Oslo and has few decision-making has contributed to the local society in powers. By signaling Steinar Ped- numerous ways through his work not ersen’s inclusion in the Norwegian only as an artist, but also as a teacher Parliament in 1993, Lund Guttormsen and headmaster of the Máze School allegedly indicates the importance of from 1962-1973, as a politician on the more direct political power to achieve municipal council of Guovdageaidnu real Sámi self-governance. from 1963–1983, and as a public ‘Gathering or Assembly’ depicts debater. the coloured poles of a lávvu in the process of construction. The work A cycle of interviews was conducted might precede or succeed ‘The Sámi in 2008 with the artist by Rossella Parliament holding their first plenary’. Ragazzi and Terje Brantenberg, Asso- ‘Gathering’ was realized at a time ciate Professors at Tromsø University during which the new opportunities for Museum, the Arctic University of political empowerment and representa- Norway, in conjunction with his exhi- tion gained through the Áltá action – bition at the Tromsø Museum in 2009. and similar cases internationally – were The museum donated a copy of the strongly debated in Sápmi. Opinions film (OCA commissioned the subtitles were divided amongst those who in Sámi) to the Máze Dáiddasiidii, an believed in using the traditional form ongoing project for an Indigenous of Sámi gathering, and those for whom Artists’ Residency in Máze in the the only model possible in practice legendary Sámi Artists’ Group housing was one that was recognized by the and studios – a collaboration between Norwegian state, that is a parliamen- various Sápmi stakeholders, including tary format. It was the latter that won the Máze citizens, the municipality, the the debate and led to traditional forms Sámi Parliament, and OCA. being replaced by a Norwegian model. For many among the young Sámi gen- eration of today, this decision remains the subject of some controversy. Josef Halse

Lund Guttormsen returns to these April / Cuoŋománnu, watercolour and legal and socio-political themes mul- gouache, 1984 tiple times. The preparation for the establishment of the Sámi Parliament February / Guovvamánnu, watercolour (1998) followed King Harald’s formal and Gouache, 1984 apology of 1997: “on behalf of the state for the injustice committed against the The Sámi worldview upholds a Sámi people through its harsh policy non-linear perspective of time where of Norwegianisation”. The eventual life has a cyclical and circular nature. recognition of Sámi rights is taken The relationship between lighter and anew here, twenty years after the clash darker periods echoes this perspective, between the police and protesters in whereby seasons are more relevant Áltá and across Norway. markers of time than the non-indige- nous construction of the month. Sámi Trygve Lund Guttormsen (1933–2012) have eight seasons in total. Seasonal was a visual artist and a member rhythms determine changes in nature of the Sámi Artists’ Group. He was as well as the chromatic hues of the already residing in Máze when the landscape, and these are connected to artists Synnøve Persen and Aage Gaup each community living in the various relocated there in the autumn of 1978. Sámi areas. During the first year of the group’s existence, they formed the main In 1984 Josef Halse addressed two key

13 Konica Minolta 3 moments in the Sámi cyclical perspec- Berit Marit Hætta tive of time, approximately equivalent to two months in the Western calendar. Ravdna with a load of Hay / Ravdna The beginning of Giđđa (spring) corre- Suov’dne noaddin, pencil on paper, sponds to the month of April and fol- 1979 lows on from the season of Giđđadálvi (spring-winter). Giđđa is also the period The Ice Sea’s Glow / Jietnjameara of transhumance, when the reindeer hiilat, textiles, 1979/1980 herds move from the Finnmárkkodu- ottar (Finnmark plateau) to the coast. Sámi Silent No More: on the ban on It is also the period when calves are expression in Sápmi / Sámit eai šat born. Dálvi (winter) corresponds to the oro jaska: sátnefriijavuođa gielddus month of February, a time during which Sámis (Trohaug, 1980). Book by John the herds are at their winter pastures Gustavsen, book cover by Berit Marit and animals are slaughtered for sale Hætta, book, 144 pp., 1980 and food supplies. The sun returns to northern Sápmi in late January and Berit Marit Hætta was born in Máze, marks the end of the long polar night. the village which would be inundated following the Norwegian government’s At the moment of writing this pamphlet, decision to build a dam on the legend- Halse (together with a number of cul- ary Álta River. According to this plan, tural practitioners) is protesting against the expected rise in the water level the forced unification of the counties would leave only the top of the church of Finnmárku and Romsa, which, in spire in view. At the end of the 1970s, his view, denies the specificity of their Hætta produced a series of works using histories, culture, rights, and peoples. pencil on paper depicting the Sámi way Subsuming indigenous specificity within of life, in the form of traditional season- a wider non-indigenous category is a al practices that would be threatened problematic example of colonial meth- by the impact of the dam. ‘Ravdna odology. This is one of many contem- with a load of Hay’ depicts a woman, porary examples of how today, just like Ravdna, carrying hay on her back to at the beginning of the 1980s, Sápmi dry, a process necessary in marshland and its people are at risk of losing their areas that could not be easily reached livelihood and cultural identity, both of by motor vehicles. which are inherently interconnected. The Ice Sea’s Glow was made a few Josef Halse (b. 1951) was a member of years after the recognition of Sámi the Sámi Artists’ Group and is active indigeneity during the World Council both as a painter and a musician. Halse of Indigenous People (WCIP) – the first studied at the Norwegian National transnational pan-indigenous human Academy of Craft and Art Industry, rights organisation with a global per- Oslo, after which he returned to spective and scope. his hometown of Guovdageaidnu in 1979. Halse’s acrylic- based paintings The founding conference took place and watercolours are records of na- from 27 to 31 October 1975 at the ture-as-culture. They pay homage to Tseshaht Reservation in Port Alberni the chromatic rhythms resulting from (Turtle Island / Canada). After acquiring the stark changes of the landscapes consultative NGO status within the across the seasons in his native Sápmi. United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1977, WCIP qualified to advocate for the rights of its constituency at the United Nations. The founding conference of the WCIP on Vancouver Island gathered 260 participants, including 52 indigenous peoples coming from all over the

4 Konica Minolta 14 Americas, Scandinavia, Greenland, and on the ban on expression in Sápmi is Oceania. based on a drawing by Haetta from 1979, portraying Sámi people parading In ‘The Ice Sea’s Glow’, Berit Marit with flags. “Marching is not a typical Hætta speaks of the fraternity between Sámi behaviour,” says Hætta, “though the Sámi peoples and the wider family during those years, we were forced of global indigenous peoples they are to adopt a language which could be a part of. The work depicts two Inuit understood by the Norwegian govern- indigenous women of Greenland, wear- ment.” The flag depicted in this illustra- ing traditional clothing. The outerwear tion forms part of a wider phenomenon is called Anorak, and is made from seal of flag-making at the time, which while skin, animal fur, and velvet stitched not an intrinsic aspect of Sámi culture, together with embroidery and bead- was employed in order to achieve rec- work. Hætta addresses in this work the ognition. In particular, Haetta’s drawing interrelation of colour and landscape in was based on a proposal for a flag by the indigenous culture of the Circum- artist Synnøve Persen. polar North. What may appear to be a monochrome, empty landscape to the John Gustavsen (b. 1943) is a writer colonial eye, especially during winter and honorary member of the North time, is strongly disputed by the Sámi Norwegian Writers’ Union, specialising people’s worldview, as much as by the in Sámi rights and socio-political issues Inuit. From a Sámi perspective the related to the Barents region. He is winter landscape ‘glows’ with unex- based in Romsa. pected colour tonalities during day and night. In a gesture of sisterhood, the work intermixes Inuit and Sámi styles by using a technique usually applied to Keviselie / Hans Ragnar Mathisen making ribbons in Sámi clothing. Sápmi with only Sámi place names / Berit Marit Hætta (b. 1948) is an artist, Sápmi dušše sámi báikenamaiguin, musician, and costume designer, and pastels and ink on translucent paper, was a member of the Sámi Artists’ 1975 Group. She is an established illustrator, and among her most notable book Dixi Sic Transit Mundi Gloria (Thus covers is the first Sámi children’s passes the glory of the world). Reg- book by Sámi author Marry A. Somby, istered as The Academy / Ná nohká Ámmul ja alit oarbmælli (Ámmul and máilmmi hearvásvuohta, paper, card- the Blue Cousin), published in 1976. board and textile collage, 1978 She learned Sámi sewing techniques at home and received a formal educa- ČSV, Woodblock print on paper, 1974 tion as a seamstress before starting her arts education at the Norwegian Gorži / Waterfall, lithography on paper, National Academy for Crafts and Art 1978 Industry, completed in 1974. After graduation, she worked at the Norwe- It is happening / Sámesoga loahpa, gian Museum of Cultural History’s Sámi lithography on paper, 1981 collections in Oslo. Hætta has made 1852, lithography on paper, 1981 numerous costumes for Sámi theatre productions and along with Aage Gaup Diary B14 / Beaivegirji B14, book, she was awarded the Hedda award for 1977-1978 costume and set design in 2000 for the play Vølundda Muitalus (The Lay of Sápmi as a concept “is more than a Vølund) at the Sámi National Theatre territory; it describes the Sámi living Beaivváš. space, consisting of water and land, and also people and culture”, as Sámi The cover of Sámi Silent No More: scholar Maria Therese Stephansen

15 Konica Minolta 3 explains in an essay on the artist in livestock rather than in terms of 2017, commissioned by the respected currency. They were also treated as art journal Afterall. Since the mid- socially inferior. 1970s, Keviselie (also known as Hans Ragnar Mathisen) has dedicated a The Guovdageaidnu rebellion took lifetime’s practice to researching and place in the context of a religious reintroducing into the cartography of movement led by the preacher Lars the region the Sámi place names re- Levi Læstadius. The introduction of moved by colonial forces since the 17th alcohol by Christian missionaries had century. This aspect of his practice is become a widespread destructive particularly interesting given the strat- phenomenon among Sámi communities egies of popular mass distribution that at the time. Læstadius’ teachings were accompanied it in the form of reasona- highly regarded by many Sámis, es- bly priced multiples. In 1975 Keviselie pecially due to his ban of alcohol con- completed the first map, ‘Sápmi with sumption. Læstadius’ followers consid- only Sámi place names’. A few years ered the Norwegian State Church too later, as a student at the Oslo Art close to the state-run alcohol industry, Academy, he produced (Thus passes provoking militant actions. the glory of the world (Dixi Sic Transit Mundi Gloria) The title can be read as A local merchant selling liquor to the reminder that everything is fleeting and Sámi became the target of the rebellion nothing lasts forever. It also has various due to his repeated exploitation of uses among intellectuals, including a Sámi customers. 1852 depicts a pen form of farewell mostly aimed at instill- nib (which could also be a bell tower) ing a sense of instability in others. at the fracture point between silence and protest. Oppression in language, “ČSV appeared in the autumn of 1970, dispossession, and the return of during the course of a Sámi political colonisation connects 1852 with 1981 event in Máze, and the notion existed (the year this poster was made). The as a Sámi political slogan for some print was also used as the cover of the years thereafter”, says Sámi scholar publication Charta 79 (no. 4-5, 1981). A Johan Klemet Hætta Kalstad. ČSV series of Charta 79 issues were made (Čájet Sámi Vuoiŋŋa / Show Sámi Spirit) in the years 1979-1981 including an immortalized a consciousness and need international issue drawing support for to unify Sámi symbols and concepts the Áltá case from indigenous peoples to enhance ‘Sáminess’ in the public around the world. Charta 79 was sphere, as much as encouraged the edited by Máret Sárá among others in use of Sámi perspectives and objects the Sámi Action Group; she played an in everyday life. It was especially aimed important role in highlighting the role of at drawing the youth into Sámi politics, women during the Áltá action. as well as at catalysing the awakening and the strengthening of a common In a text titled ‘Human Bodies and identity through meetings, conferences, the Forces of Nature: Technoscience festivals, and newspaper articles. It was Perspectives on Hydropower Dams, in this spirit that Mathisen designed the Safety, Human Security, Emotions and ČSV logo. Embodied Knowledges’ (2016), May- Britt Öhman and Eva-Lotta Thunqvist, In this emblematic print titled 1852, researchers at Uppsala University, Keviselie refers to the Sámi uprising observe: “Hydropower has commonly in Guovdageaidnu by a group of Sámi been promoted as an environmentally people who confronted representatives friendly and renewable energy re- of the Norwegian authorities. During source. Despite this, the major negative this time, the Sámi were considered social and ecological impacts on the economically poorer by the Norwegian environment and its local inhabitants settlers because Sámis regarded have been well established for a long wealth in terms of reindeer or other time, as well as the high risks for large-

4 Konica Minolta 16 scale disasters caused by hydropower Flying Shamans / Girdinoaiddit, wool dam failures.” embroidery on linen fabric, 1985

Porjus, the first power plant in the Stallo and the three sisters / Stállu ja Lule River (Luleju in Lule Sámi) by the golbma oappáža, mixed media, 1978 mouth of the Julevädno on the Bay of Bothnia, was inaugurated in 1915. The Britta Marakatt-Labba grew up as one hydropower station was expanded in of nine children in a reindeer herding size with new dams and plants down- family in Saarivuoma Sameby, on the stream along the river from 1971 to Swedish side of Sápmi. Her practice 1975. This affected reindeer husbandry, is fundamentally one of storytelling farming, and the landscape, including through finely hand-embroidered the biodiversity of the river. images. This technique, rooted in her Sámi heritage, allows her to be mobile, Keviselie wrote a poem during the continuing her production in any place heated Álttáeatnu (Áltá River) debates, at any time. Growing up with duodji, and published it as ‘Luleju, The Story textiles constitute a common thread of a Sámi Siida and a River’ in 1981 throughout Marakatt-Labba’s life in response to events on the Swedish and are used to highlight the artist’s side of Sápmi. Before the Swedish state rejection of the colonial prejudices finalized its regulations in the 1970s, constructed against Sámi culture. By the river was rich in salmon, and the conveying an image of the world she is river valley hosted most of the nomadic part of, she provides an understanding and forest-based Sámi reindeer herders of Sámi culture and history with which in the nation-state of Sweden. to guide its future. The numerous embroideries and other works that she Boat / Fanas, lithography on paper, has produced since the 1970s stand as 1978 an impassioned and political defense of the Sámi people. They assert a Sámi Keviselie aka Hans Ragnar Mathisen worldview through both historic and (b.1945) is a visual artist who lives everyday events that intertwine nature, and works in Romsa. He studied at the lifestyles, spiritual perspectives and National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, mythology, fairy tales and sayings, as receiving his degree in 1979. Keviselie well as political struggle and confronta- was a member of the Sámi Artists’ tion. Group from its inception in 1978. His prolific artistic practice is primarily Both Flying Shamans and Nightmare defined through a determined advocacy were made in the context of extended of Sámi rights, cultural expression, and waves of militarization across Sápmi: autonomy, as well as the connectivity of the latter included the land-scorching indigenous peoples around the world. It and the consequent evacuation of the extends across a variety of media, in- whole Finnmárku region at the end of cluding painting, graphic arts, drawing, World War II, and later, during the Áltá sculpture, photography, book illustra- action, the largest police deployment in tion, cartography, and writing. Keviselie Norway witnessed in the post-war era. has frequently exhibited through solo In Nightmare, Marakatt-Labba portrays and group exhibitions across Scandina- a lávvu under attack. Much more than via, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hun- just a living quarter – with defined gary, Canada, USA, China, and Taiwan, areas for sleeping and eating – a lávvu and his work was shown in Athens and has a specially demarcated area for Kassel during documenta 14, 2017. spiritual practices. Nightmare portrays the mass desecration of the lávvu as a metaphor for the ransacking of Sámi Britta Marakatt-Labba resources and Sámi beliefs during the Nightmare / Deattán, wool embroidery past and present. During Marakatt-Lab- on linen fabric, 1986 ba’s John Savio Award lecture (held at

17 Konica Minolta 3 OCA on 7 December 2017), the artist vuomi) is a visual artist living in Övre observed that the entire Sámi belief Soppero, on the Swedish side of Sápmi. system is under threat today, given that She grew up in a family of reindeer Sámi (and indigenous peoples globally) herders and then studied art at the are the first to be menaced by the con- Sunderby Folkhögskola and at the sequences of changes in climate and School of Design and Crafts at the the environment linked to the massive University of Gothenburg, receiving mining exploitation and industrialisation a Bachelor’s Degree in Textile Art of nature. in 1978. Marakatt-Labba became a member of the influential artist collec- Flying Shamans comments upon the tive the Sámi Artists’ Group in 1979. police-enforced displacement of Sámi She has exhibited widely, nationally communities and livelihood. The noaidi and internationally. Her major retro- (or shaman) is depicted here as coming spective ‘Cosmos’ at the Bildmuseet to the Sámi’s defence. Noaidis are in 2008 included over 100 works. Her intermediaries between humans and central medium is embroidery; the epic the forces of the other world in which work ‘History’ is a 24-metre tapestry Sámi cosmology is a tripartite structure inspired by the Bayeaux Tapestries composed of the celestial, the human, that narrate the history and cosmology and the underworld. Noaidis’ practices of the Sámi people. The latter was a were repressed throughout the chris- centerpiece of the recent documenta tening ‘Nordic missionary crusades’ of 14, amongst other works presented the 18th century. both in Athens and Kassel. The major monograph Broderade berättelser Marakatt-Labba made this work for (Embroidered Stories) was published in her graduation project at the School 2010. Her works are included in sever- of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg in al public and private collections across 1978. The puppet theatre was inspired Scandinavia. by the mythological Sámi stories about the ‘Stallo’ – a supernatural creature which exists in two distinct forms, as a slightly enlarged human figure of Rannveig Persen extreme strength known for stealing children, or as a force called forth by Power and Honour, and we Sámi / the noaidi to hurt or kill his enemies. Fábmo Ja Gud’nl Ja Mii Sábmelažžat, linoleum block print on paper, 1978 The puppet theatre was toured live around the whole of Sápmi featuring Protect our rivers and fields / Suodjal Marry A. Somby’s play Little Stallo and min jogaid ja eatnamiid, linoleum block the Three Sisters. Her story portrays print on paper, 1979 the encounter of three girls, Mádde, Jurri, and Tuddi, with a small Stallo As an artist and educator, Rannveig suffering from an inferiority complex. Persen worked as an illustrator on a The Stallo kidnaps the children, but number of Sámi books for children they eventually manage to fool him and from the 1970s on. Power and Honour, escape from captivity. Marry A. Somby, and we Sámi and Protect our rivers author of many children’s books, and and fields are both direct responses to Britta Marakatt-Labba came together the construction of the hydroelectric to tell a tale to children about decolo- power plant in the Áltá River. In ‘Power nisation, and to instill in young people and Honour, and we Sámi’, Persen high- a sense of empowerment and a desire lights the distance between the national for change which had been forbidden in government’s policies and the Sámi their generation. people’s livelihood. Instead of showing the protests, she presents the square Britta Marakatt-Labba (b. 1951, in front of the Parliament as deserted. Lavkooaivvi, Davvavuomi, Lávnnjit- The only trace left of the Sámi peoples

4 Konica Minolta 18 are two hats – the čiehgahpir (the Synnøve Persen four corners hat) and the nissongahpir (women’s headpiece) – infamously Sámi flag / Sámeleavga, silkscreen banned as devilish by Norwegian mis- print on paper, 1977 sionaries. The work questions whether conciliation across society can ever be Sámiland for Sámi / Sámieana sámiide, achieved. silkscreen print on paper, 1977

Protect our rivers and fields takes on Jan-Erik Stensgård. the violence of the Norwegianisation Photo of Synnøve Persen and Victor policy and the censorship of the Sámi Lind / Synnøve Persen ja Victor Linda language. The phrase ‘Protect our govva, photograph of original print, rivers and fields’ visualizes a continuity 1977 between all the given elements in nature, including language. It addresses Synnøve Persen belonged to the first the deep interconnection between generation of Sámi to be fully educated language, nature, and sovereignty, by the Norwegian assimilation policy in which is essential for survival among state-run boarding schools. In this pro- indigenous peoples. cess she experienced – like thousands of other Sámi peoples – a sense of loss The process of Norwegianisation was as her language, culture, and home an official policy carried out by the were pushed far from her. Added to this Norwegian government directed at was the traumatic sense of shame at the Sámi, and later the Kven people of being Sámi that the Norwegianisation Norway, to assimilate non-Norwegian policy instilled. speaking indigenous communities and ethnic minorities into a culturally Persen attended the Art Academy in uniform population. This finds its roots Oslo, where in 1977 she developed in the missionary programs of the an artwork portraying a Sámi flag. 1700s, and was formalised as official Flag-making was not an inherent part government policy in the late 1800s. of Sámi culture, and yet from the Laws were passed prohibiting schooling 1970s flags began to emerge in a bid in Sámi and restricting the rights of to stand up to the devastating effects Sámi speakers to purchase land. The of Norwegianisation. This development laws were motivated by Norwegian was part of the growing ČSV (Čájet nationalism and also by religious/ Sámi Vuoiŋŋa / Show Sámi Spirit) move- spiritual differences between Sámi and ment of ‘Sámification’, whereby duodji the Norwegian population. The Nor- and specific colours gained power as wegianisation policy was discontinued symbolic elements of a growing sense in the 1980s with the creation of the of Sámi identity across Sápmi and the Sámediggi (the Sámi Parliament of nation-states it traversed. Persen’s flag Norway) and other related initiatives. exists within a wider context.

Rannveig Persen (b. 1953) is a visual As Ánde Somby observes, “The pattern artist and was a member of the Sámi itself wasn’t original [...] the inspirations Artists’ Group. After finishing her were there for all to see. It could be studies at the Norwegian National a magnified end of the sleeve of the Academy of Crafts and Art Industry, gáktis from Buolbmát and Várjjat. It she relocated to Máze with her sister, could be the design used in different Synnøve, to join the group. She is pulpits at the time. The design was known to have worked with various even used in some banners to make media, ranging from linoleum block political statements.” A similar pattern prints to illustrations and more recent- was used in Kárásjohka in 1962 at ly digital collage. the initiative of Marit Stueng. In 1986 Astrid Båhl won a competition with a design that then became the official

19 Konica Minolta 3 Sámi flag. If they take the fish, they take us all / Jos guoli váldet, váldet min buohkaid, Synnøve Persen (b. 1950) is a visual linoleum print on paper, 1979 artist and poet living in Bevkop on the Norwegian side of Sápmi. She studied Trained originally as an architect, painting at the National Academy of Arvid Sveen first moved to Vadsø Fine Arts, Oslo, and was one of the in the early 1970s, employed by the founders of the influential Sámi Art- Regional Planning and Building Agency. ists’ Group, an artists’ collective that Working on areas of importance to sought to increase the standing of the Sámi reindeer herders and tasked with work of Sámi artists. Synnøve Persen making decisions on water and land has published several poetry collec- resources, he quickly became aware tions and has performed her poetry in of the existing conflicts to be found in readings and musical collaborations. the territory. Consequently, he resigned Her most recent solo exhibition was from his post in 1978 and joined the at the Adde Zetterquist Kunstgalleri in People’s Action Against the Building of 2016, while her first took place in 1983 the Áltá-Guovdageaidnu Waterway as a at Tromsø Kunstforening. She has photographer and supporter. A number also been a consistent political figure of newspaper reporters were sent by in the defence of Sámi rights. She major papers to document the protest was a leading figure in the Áltá case, at the time, focusing exclusively on the participating in the 1979 hunger strike moments of violence between protest- outside the Norwegian Parliament in ers and the police. Sveen, however, Oslo. Persen has been an important became part of the Sámi community’s organiser of Sámi artists, both in non-Sámi allies on the site, spending developing the Sámi Artists’ Union time in the two camps that led the and establishing the Sámi Centre for action, and documenting the fraternity Contemporary Art in Kárášjohka. Her between them. He also photographed work was shown in Athens and Kassel the structural organization of Detsika as part of documenta 14. and Stilla camps, which served as centers for cultural and political gath- erings.

Arvid Sveen The photographic series Planting of Trees (Stilla), captures a walk over the Detsika camp / Detsika-leaira, original mountain from the Detsika camp to the photographic print, 1979 Stilla camp – where the construction in- itially started – in July 1979. Conceived Cavčo series / Čávžu-ráidu, sautso-se- as a poetic gesture to express disa- rien, original photographic print, 1979 greement over the development plans in the area (including the construction Planting of Trees, Stilla / Muoraid of a road), the members of the Áltá gilvimin, Savu, original photographic action planted trees at the end of a new print, 1979 road still under construction. ‘Čávžu (Cavco/Sautso)’ refers to the Áltá The Stilla March series / Muoraid gilvi- Canyon, the valley carved by the Áltá min, Savu, colour diapositives, 1980 River. It is the largest canyon in North- ern Europe. The Áltá hydroelectric Emancipation / Luovvaneapmi, offset power station which was completed in print, 1981 1987 now sits at the top of the canyon, with the 145 m tall Virdnejávri dam. Norwegianisation / Dáruiduhttin, pen on paper, 1972 Arvid Sveen worked prolifically on commissions campaigning to raise Sámi future / Sámi boahtteáigi, awareness of the consequences of gouache on paper, 1980 damming the Álttaeatnu, especially

4 Konica Minolta 20 through poster-making. His practice is a great source of information, and brought together the environmental contains documents about the organi- and indigenous concerns of the time. zation, declarations of support, reports, With bold titles such as ‘If they take the maps, financial accounts, photographs, fish, they take us all’, Sámi future, and printed material, newspaper cuttings, Emancipation, he alludes to the pos- and much more. Some of the material sibility for a different future for Sámi in the archive derives from a sub-com- liberation and autonomy. As a non-Sámi mittee in Oslo. person, Sveen was respectful of the responsibility he carried in creating posters that would serve as powerful communication platforms in uniting Geir Tore Holm and Søssa Jørgensen the Sámi peoples in their struggle for sovereignty. He therefore sought the Holsbekken (RGB), multimedia installa- advice of renowned Sámi artists – and tion, dimensions variable, 2018 would often submit his sketches to Iver Commissioned by OCA 2018 Jåks for instance – in order to receive their feedback before the final poster Parallel to their video, photography, went to print. sculpture, sound, and performance based work, Geir Tore Holm and As colours were the new signs of Søssa Jørgensen’s practice focuses identity during these years, the colour on mediating, writing, and teaching of the Norwegian flag is blended into about contemporary art. In 1993 they the emerging Sámi flag (Emancipation), started Balkong, using their apartment and the struggle for Sámi rights is as an exhibition space, to find alter- reinserted into a global perspective native ways of doing and presenting referencing the new alliance with the art. With other artists from Thailand World Council of Indigenous Peoples they initiated the Gildeskål-based (Sámi Future). Sørfinnset School / nord land in 2003, in the Nordland County. This ongoing Arvid Sveen is an artist, photographer, project questions the exploitation of and graphic designer. He was born in nature, and focuses on the exchange of the municipality of Ringsaker in 1944. knowledge as well as on architecture He has been politically active since in a broad aesthetic understanding of the beginning of his career. He drew ecological realities in which societies, the banner of Finnmark Ungdomslag humans, and nature are implicated. A (youth group) of 1984, and he also few years ago, Holm and Jørgensen made the logo and poster for the relocated to Skiptvet in the Østfold Norway Ungdomslag’s (youth group) County south-east of Oslo, an area 75th anniversary in 1971. 49 of his surrounded by fields and forests. drawings for Norwegian municipal and county coats of arms were accepted. Holsbekken (RGB) consists of two Sveen trained as an architect and parts: a sculptural installation and a completed his degree at NTH Universi- performative walk. The installation ty in Trondheim in 1970. Alongside his piece at OCA is composed of water artistic practice, he has made pro- from the eponymous stream running grammes for television and published beside their house mixed with yeast. A many books. surveillance video from Holsbekken is continuously viewed during the exhibi- The archives of the protest movement tion at OCA in Oslo. Signals of activity against the damming of the Àlta-gou- in the water from the creek interfere vdageaidnu water system. In 1993, The with the video in real time. The creek, Áltá Museum was given the archives Holsbekken, flows into Glomma, the of the movement’s head office in Áltá, longest and largest river in Norway, thereby taking over responsibility for whose 621 kilometre-long span has administering its contents. The archive a drainage basin that covers 13% of

21 Konica Minolta 3 Norway’s area, in the South Eastern Dáidadállu | Artist Collective – Guovd- part of the country. ageaidnu / Mai-Lis Eira and Elle Márjá Eira Though environmental conditions in the Norwegian rivers and lakes are better Don’t Fuck With Me / Ale dájo muinna compared to other European countries, / Ikke kødd med meg, digital film, 2018, there are wide regional variations, and Commissioned by OCA the environmental conditions are the poorest where the population density Don’t Fuck With Me is a cooperation is the highest. There is an abundance between Elle Márjá and Mai-Lis Eira. of water which is used for domestic, Both Elle Márjá, a musician/film direc- agricultural, and industrial purposes in tor, and Mai-Lis, a film director, were almost all parts of the country and at all born in Máze, growing up with the times. Norway has ten of the world’s 35 stories of the Áltá action and the small highest waterfalls, though a number of town at the heart of it. Their families these have been affected by hydropow- took an active part in those discussions. er regulations. More than 70 percent of Elle Márjá recreates a soundscape Norway’s largest rivers are regulated and a video around the 1979 hunger for hydropower production. strike demonstration in Oslo where seven young Sámis stood in front of the Søssa Jørgensen (b. 1968) is an artist Norwegian Parliament. Mai-Lis meets currently completing an MA in Land- Máze inhabitants who participated in scape Architecture at the Norwegian the Áltá action, giving central attention University of Life Sciences (NMBU), to the 15 Sámi women who occupied Ås. Alongside her individual practice the office of Prime Minister Gro Harlem within the fields of performance, Brundtland on 6 February 1981. sound/recording, and installation, she Together with other protest actions works with her long-term partner Geir during this period, the occupation of Tore Holm on a number of projects in the Prime Minister’s office catalysed which they have exhibited, debated, the establishment of the Sámi Parlia- and taught contemporary art. ment in Norway in 1989.

Geir Tore Holm (b. 1966) is an artist. Mai-Lis Eira (b. 1991) is a Sámi film He was a research fellow at Oslo director who uses film and storytell- National Academy of the Arts, with ing to problematise contemporary an artistic research project titled events from a Sámi perspective. She ‘Poetics for Changing Aesthetics’ at is involved in the Pile o’Sápmi project the department of Arts and Crafts. In (founded by artist Máret Ánne Sara, 2006–2007 Holm was the head of the co-member of the Dáidaddállu collec- project for the establishment of the tive) as director of a forthcoming film Academy of Contemporary Art and that documents the legal and artistic Creative Writing in Romsa. Since 2010, events around reindeer herder Jovvset he has lived and worked from the farm, Ánte Sara’s court case against the Ringstad, in Skiptvet, Østfold with his Norwegian state. She is the director long-term partner Søssa Jørgensen. of the short films Jahki ii leat jagi Holm works with media such as video, viellja (This Year is Not Last Year’s photography, sculpture, performance, Brother) and Turistene (The Tourists) and installation, and has also curated and has produced a TV documentary various exhibitions. for children and young adults for NRK, for which she received the prize of Best Youth Programme from Northern Character in Russia.

Elle Márjá Eira (b. 1983) is an artist and musician known for electronic music which incorporates yoik and Sámi

4 Konica Minolta 22 language vocals. She grew up in a rein- When I was given the opportunity, I deer herding family in Guovdageaidnu entered the time capsule. I was again a in Sápmi, and uses music as a stage to witness of history.” share stories about the Sámi way of life. With her band she has performed Susanne Hætta (b. 1975) is a Sámi internationally in Brazil, Guatemala, photographer, artist, and author based and Germany among other places. Her in Čáhcesuolu (Vadsø). She is a member debut album is forthcoming. Elle Márjá of the Sámi artists’ collective Dáid- Eira is also the director of the short dadállu. Her work has been exhibited film Iđitsilba, released in 2015. in a number of shows in different parts of Sápmi and in Oslo, and she has authored multiple books including Utsi – The Way Out of Criminal Life (2015) Dáidadállu | Artist Collective – Guovd- and the Northern Sámi- language ageaidnu children’s book, Okta beaivi Ánniin (One / Susanne Hætta Day in the Life of Anne) in 2000. Among her forthcoming publications is a book Seeing Máze / Oaidnit Máze, digital about the Sámi artist, poet, and activist photography transferred to colour Synnøve Persen who was a member of diapositives, 2017/2018 the Sámi Artists’ Group.

“Back then, I was a witness. Vague memories of people chained up in the snow, hundreds of policemen, me sitting Dáidadállu | Artist Collective – Guovd- in smoke-filled lavvos with my father, ageaidnu Sámi people dragged away by those po- / Máret Ánne Sara licemen on the television news. But also, the art. An artist drew a sketch of me. Pile o’Sápmi Power Necklace / Pile My mother took me to art exhibitions. o’Sápmi dahje: fápmočehporas, approxi- With young eyes I studied every line mately 200 parts, 2017 of the paintings we had in our home. I took up my father’s cameras and According to Máret Ánne Sara, Pile started to photograph. And I, too young o’Sápmi started as “an art piece and to understand, wanted to see, wanted an extended artistic movement accom- to understand and to witness what was panying the trial of my little brother”. happening to us, the Sámi people. Many It first appeared outside the Indre years later, this became clear to me. Finnmárku District Court in Deatnu, Sápmi (Tana, Norway) in 2016. Here “The Sámi Artists’ Group was central she installed a form of protest-sculpture to a part of the Sámi movement in the by piling up 200 freshly killed reindeer late 1970s. In 2017, with the camera as skulls and crowned them with a Norwe- an extension of my gaze, I walked into gian flag. Pile o’Sápmi follows the trial the building where they worked in back of her reindeer herding brother, Jovsset then. It was messy and seemed aban- Ánte Sara, bringing wide attention to an doned. But there were echoes. Echoes otherwise broadly ignored case – the of something hard to define; a timeless imposed slaughtering of reindeer in urge for expression beyond the spoken Finnmárku, whereby Jovsset Ánte Sara word, beyond the political demands, would be forced to slaughter half of his beyond the need to be respected. Like herd. One of dozens of similar cases, our ancestors that hunted in these val- the legal struggle between Jovsset Ánte leys, caught fish in the river, struggled, Sara and the Ministry of Agriculture lived and loved, the Sámi Artists’ Group and Food claims that the enforced state chose to work from here. I had been ruling caused Sara’s inevitable bank- drawn to the building for years, feeling ruptcy and forced him to abandon his that I had probably been there with my way of life, his culture, and ultimately parents at some point in my childhood. his inherited rights.

23 Konica Minolta 3 Pile o’Sápmi is directly inspired by a Tanya Busse and Joar Nango historic photo taken in Regina, on Métis land, Turtle Island (Canada) that Máret The Nomadic Library (Charta 79 – et Ánne Sara found on the internet titled manifest nr. 3/79) / Johttigirjerádju ‘Pile of Bones’. The image served as a (Charta 79 – et manifest nr. 3/79), document of the ecocidal strategies of installation including risograph print on settlers across the American continent paper, 2018– during the mid-18th century. The near extermination of tens of millions of The Nomadic Library is a loose archive bison that had, until then, roamed freely of printed materials that have been upon the Great Plains since the last Ice gathered over many years, and is an Age was intended as a colonial/settler ongoing project that begins with a strategy of genocide, seeking to exter- re-issue of Charta 79 – et manifest nr. minate the First Nations that depended 3/79. It initiates Tanya Busse and Joar upon bison for their livelihood. Nango’s focus on counter-cultural pub- lishing initiatives in the Barents region: Power Necklace makes a direct refer- Northern Europe, Sápmi, and Russia. ence to the brutality of colonization. The project addresses the relationship In North America, bison bones were between cultural production and social coarsely ground into fertilizer, or movements in the Circumpolar Arctic shipped overseas to produce fine por- of Northern Europe, both historical celain sold to European families. Mir- and contemporary. It is also a way of roring this process, Sara commissioned animating histories of subversion and a porcelain necklace of reindeer skulls, dissent that have happened outside of made from powdered reindeer bones. mainstream institutions and culture. The grandeur of the necklace would The artists’ aim is to look at how print- seem to befit governmental leaders, a ed matter has been used politically to regal adornment of protest perhaps, or mobilise larger social transformations an arrogant assertion of settler-colonial and to examine the power it still has to power. create communities.

Máret Ánne Sara (b. 1983, Hámmár- Tanya Busse (b. 1982 in Moncton, lives feasta/ Hammerfest, Sápmi/Northern and works in Romsa) holds an MA in Norway) is an artist whose work Capitalism, Sustainability and Art from deals with political and social issues the Academy of Contemporary Art affecting the Sámi peoples and their in Tromsø, and a BFA from the Nova reindeer herding communities. Sara Scotia College of Art and Design in has created posters, CD/LP covers, Halifax. Working primarily with print scene visuals, and fabric prints for and installation, Busse’s practice ex- numerous Sámi artists, designers, plores questions of visibility in relation and institutions, and has exhibited to deep-time, invisible architecture, in the field of visual arts since 2003. and to broader systems of power. She Furthermore, she is an editor, journal- has exhibited at Gallery 44: Center for ist, and published novelist. Her first Contemporary Photography in Toronto, book Ilmmiid gaskkas (In Between Canada (2013); Turku Biennial in Worlds, 2013), was nominated for the Turku, Finland (2013); and UKS in Oslo, Nordic Council’s Children’s and Young Norway (2012) among other venues. People’s Literature Prize in 2014. Busse is the co-director of Small Pro- She is one of the founding members jects (Romsa and Mondo Books). of the Dáiddadállu Artists’ Collective Guovdageaidnu. Sara’s ongoing project Joar Nango (b. 1979, Áltá [Alta], ‘Pile o’Sápmi’ was showcased, amongst Sápmi/ Northern Norway, lives and others, as part of the documenta 14 works in Romsa) is a Sámi architect exhibition at the Neue Neue Galerie, with a degree from the NTNU in Kassel in 2017. She lives and works in Norway, and a practising artist. He Guovdageaidnu. works with site-specific installations

4 Konica Minolta 24 and self-made publications which This one-hour-long symphony of nature explore the boundary between archi- was composed from a multitude of field tecture, design, and visual art. The- recordings registered in different parts matically speaking, his work relates to of Sápmi and was mixed in Áillohaš’s questions of indigenous identity, often cottage in Beattet (Pätikkä) on the through investigating the oppositions Finnish side of Sápmi together with the and contradictions in contemporary Swedish sound technician Mikal Brodin. architecture. He has recently worked The work was produced by Gunilla on the theme of the Modern Sámi Gustafsson (later Bresky) and Sven Space through, among other things, a Åke Landström. self-published zine series entitled Sámi Huksendáidda: the Fanzine, the Sámi The renowned Sámi artist and musician Shelters design project, and the mix- Áillohaš / Nils-Aslak Valkepää spent tape/clothing project Land & Language. his lifetime listening to and being part He is also a founding member of the ar- of the natural cycles of his homeland. chitecture collective FFB, which works He was fascinated by state-of-the-art with temporary installations in urban sound recording technology, and incor- contexts. He has exhibited in Canada porated field-recordings – archival and at the 161 Gallon Gallery (2007) and his own – as early as the mid-1970s. He the Gallery Deluxe Gallery in Halifax continued to work with field recordings (2008), Gallery SAW in Ottawa (2013), in nature to capture the soundscapes and at Western Front in Vancouver of his land, Sápmi, until the completion (2014). He is currently involved in of Goase Dušše. The sounds of ‘The setting up a network of Sámi architects Bird Symphony’ have a timeless quality, across Sápmi. Joar Nango was also one which accentuates the relevance of its of the participating artists in Tensta environmental messages today. Øyen konsthall’s exhibition ‘Soon enough: art Vister comments, “Áillohaš’s piece is a and action’ (2018) and in the project call to listen to the sounds of life, and a ‘Sites of the Future’. warning that ‘nature is dying’ (Áilu-lod- demánná). It was and still is today, in an era of global ecological crisis, ahead of his time and more relevant than ever.” Elin Már Øyen Vister Øyen Vister’s piece re-presents Áillo- Singing along to whooper swans – haš’s Goase Dušše as a listening kit, talking with the rocks – Goase Dušše consisting of an iPod, head-set, and a revisited / Lávlumin njuvččaiguin – booklet. At the exhibition in OCA, Oslo, hupmamin geđggiiguin, ruovttoluotta the artist recommended you listen to Goase Dušše –skerrui, multimedia Goase Dušše while walking or sitting audio recording, 2018 alongside Akerselva, the local river Commissioned by OCA, 2018 running past the exhibition venue (a listening kit could be picked up at the Singing along to whooper swans – entrance of the exhibition). On May talking with the rocks – Goase Dušše 5th, the artist led a sensory walk into revisited is a new work by Norwegian Lillomarka Forest, north-east of Oslo, artist and composer Elin Már Øyen which culminated in a deep-listening Vister, which resulted from deep-lis- session to Goase Dušše. tening to Áillohaš’s celebrated Goase Dušše – Loddesinfoniija (The Bird Elin Már Øyen Vister (b. 1976) is Symphony, 1992) and reflects upon a sound artist, composer, and DJ. the process of its creation. ‘The Bird Coming from an audio background, Symphony’ was a commission from the their multidisciplinary work is con- Music Drama Group/Swedish Broad- cerned with listening as an artistic casting Corporation (Sveriges Radio). It practice and a way of composing, premiered on the Swedish Broadcast- sensing, and experiencing the world. ing Corporation on 22nd October 1992. Øyen Vister works with field recording,

25 Konica Minolta 3 installation, composition, performance, cross walls and reach out to a large sculpture, live improvisation, radio, rock, before disappearing into the film soundtrack, and site-specific ground. Whether the work begins out- sound interventions. One of their side or inside the building remains an ongoing projects, Soundscape Røst, open question. A brass plate on the wall investigates and documents the says: “There are seven main directions: rapidly changing natural and cultural Up, East, South, North, West, Down and soundscapes of the Røst archipelago, Inside Yourself.” as a result of the ongoing global envi- ronmental crisis. They are also part of Jimmie Durham (b.1940) is a sculptor, Røst AIR working group, running an essayist, and poet. In 1968 he enrolled interdisciplinary artists’ residency as at L’École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, well as communal workshops exploring where he worked primarily in perfor- the interrelatedness of ecology, queer mance and sculpture. With three other thinking, and indigenous perspectives. artists, he formed the Draga group, Founded in 2012, Røst AIR is situated which explored ways to integrate art on the tiny island of Skomvær, Røst, into public life. At this time, he formed Nordland, Sápmi / Northern Norway). an organization with indigenous friends from South America called Incomindios, which attempted to coor- dinate and encourage support for the Jimmie Durham struggle of Indians of the Americas. A Untitled / Namaheapme, 2018 lifelong activist, in 1973 he returned to the United States to participate in Durham’s connection to Sápmi has the occupation at Wounded Knee in been longstanding. In 1974 the IITC South Dakota, and became a full-time (International Indian Treaty Council) organizer for the American Indian embarked on a mission to connect Movement (AIM); he would become indigenous peoples from all around a member of their Central Council in the world (a task that continues today 1975. That same year he became the in a different form) and to present executive director of the International their treaty issues to the international Indian Treaty Council (IITC) in New community. Its office was in New York, York City and was made the represent- right across the street from the UN, ative of American Indians to the United and the small staff was headed by Nations, the first minority group to Jimmie Durham. It was through this have official representation within the position that over the following years organization. From 1975 to 1980, he he came across the Áltá action against was the coeditor of the Treaty Council the Norwegian government. Durham’s News, a monthly newspaper of the piece for this exhibition addresses – IITC, and edited the second edition of through a series of poems – indigenous, the Chronicles of American Indian Pro- globally interconnected issues invoking test in 1976, published by the Council the iconic Sámi artist John Savio and on Interracial Books for Children. In the Filipino artist Santiago Bosé, an 1980 he quit AIM and returned to a indigenous advocate. focus on art making. Throughout this decade his work addressed questions Durham was commissioned in 2004 of identity, modes of representation, to create a work for the newly estab- and colonial violence and genocide, lished courthouse in Deatnu. This first specifically related to the experiences bilingual court has hosted many trials of indigenous peoples in the Americas. between the Sámi peoples and the He was the director of the Foundation Norwegian state. Durham’s labyrinthine for the Community of Artists in New installation of coloured pipes with York City from 1981 to 1983, and from elaborate objects, natural elements, 1982 to 1985 edited their monthly and text runs through the building with Art and Artists Newspaper (formerly branches in several directions that Artworkers News).

4 Konica Minolta 26 Maria Thereza Alves (b. 1961) is an Durham has published many texts in artist. Alves was co-founder of the journals such as Artforum, Art Journal, Partido Verde of São Paulo, Brazil in and Third Text. His book of poems, 1987, and in 1981 she served as a Columbus Day, was published in 1983 representative to the US for the Parti- by West End Press, Minneapolis. His do dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party) collected essays, A Certain Lack of of Brazil. In 1979, as a member of the Coherence, was published in 1993 by International Indian Treaty Council, Kala Press. In 2013 Jimmie Durham: based in New York, she made an offi- Waiting to Be Interrupted, Selected cial presentation on the human rights Writings 1993– 2012 was published by abuses suffered by the indigenous Mousse Publishing and Museum van population of Brazil at the UN Human Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, and his Rights Conference in Geneva. In 2012, book of poetry Poems That Do Not José Manuel Barroso, President of the Go Together was published by Edition European Union, asked Alves to be Hansjörg Maye. part of his special committee to for- mulate a ‘New Narrative for Europe’. Alves’s artwork has been seen in many international exhibitions and bienni- Maria Thereza Alves als, among them the 29th São Paulo Rio Doce: Sweet No More / Rio Doce: Ii Biennial (2016, 2010), the Moscow šat fiinnis, painting on textile, 2017 Biennale (2015), the Berlin Biennial (2014), and documenta 13 (2012), and In Rio Doce: Sweet No More, Maria is currently on view at the Sharjah Art Thereza Alves addresses the collapse Biennial 13. of the mining waste dam in 2015 owned by the Samarco Company in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, which released toxic waste into the Rio Doce (Sweet River), thus destroying the way of life of the Krenak community forever.

Alves’s work is emblematic of the challenges affecting indigenous com- munities around the world. The political exchange between indigenous popula- tions emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as new types of indigenous social movements grew, after nearly two centuries in which indigenous peoples had been marginalized from national politics. These movements called for a greater recognition of the cultural rights of indigenous peoples, respect for indigenous knowledge, and their active participation in development and other forms of public decision-making. Today, as in the 1970s, indigenous belief systems are under threat. Sámi and indigenous peoples globally are the first to be menaced by the conse- quences of changes in the climate and the environment resulting from massive mining exploitation and the industriali- sation of nature.

27 Konica Minolta 3 Dates Tuesday 26.2, 18:00 Katarina Pirak on Julevädno – The Lule Thursday and Saturdays, 14:00 River Open introduction to current 15 power plants within 60 years. An exhibitions electricity-producing giant. The faithful servant of the Vattenfall Company Tuesday 12.2, 18:00 and a safe source of income. I will Gunvor Guttorm talk about success and resistance, Gunvor Guttorm will discuss the con- refurbishment and disarmament, the cept of duodji, Sami art and craft, and visible and invisible. I grew up with its effects on their everyday traditions, Vattenfall. Although my father didn’t and how the duojarat (the artisans) use work for Vattenfall, in our cupboard it in their creative processes and what we had a kitchen towel with the text kind of narratives they create. She will Statens Vattenkraftverk. The streets also present her own works as well as were trafficked by blue Volvo cars with examples by other duodji. the shining white text and logo. By our kitchen table, we constantly discussed Gunvor Guttorm was born in Karasjok, pros and cons about the dam. And sure, Norway. Gunvor Guttorm is Profes- you could make some money by moving sor in duodji (Sámi arts and crafts, away since Vattenfall payed generously. traditional art, applied art) at Sámi Some people praised the money, while allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied others cursed them. On weekends we Sciences, Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino went for study trips. My mom and dad’s in Norway. Currently, she is Rector at friend Mr. Ericsson worked as a local the same institution. Her research is manager, and we could walk alongside interconnected with cultural expression turbines and generators, in inflow and in the Sámi and indigenous societies, outflow tunnels, on dams and on new especially duodji. The focus of her constructed roads. Sometimes Auntie research deals with duodji in a contem- Siv took us for a party of Gabriel’s, porary setting and indigenous people’s whose mother worked as a chef at the context. She also has had the fortune construction sites. The parties took to work with elderly duodji artisans and place in the canteens. Today there’s share their knowledge in traditional only brushwood left behind. Not to techniques. This has indeed benefited mention my friends in Messaure and her theoretical work. She has tried in Harsprånget; from their parent’s house, her approaches to understand duodji there’s only a street sign left telling today, by discuissing what position and about a long gone road. meaning it has had and has for Sámi societies. Self-Presentation Katarina Pirak Sikku lives and works in She has taught both undergraduate and Jokkmokk. She returned to Jokkmokk graduate courses in duodji both practi- after her graduation from The Umeå cally and theoretically. She has written Academy of Fine Arts in 2005. In her several articles about how the tradi- studio in Jokkmokk over the years she tional knowledge of Sámi art and craft has looked into landscapes, borders, is transformed to the modern lifestyle, and traces. She has garnered much both in Sámi language, Norwegian, and attention for her engagement in the in English. In the indigenous world, she material from the State Institute has participated as an invited speaker for Racial Biology in Uppsala. With as well as presenter at indigenous her insider perspective, she has research congresses. Guttorm has also investigated how it feels to be one of participated in exhibitions in Sápmi and the examined victims. Her projects abroad. started with the question, ‘Can grief be inherited?’, a question she still carries and analyses. She uses her own body to sense, describe, and experience. In

4 Konica Minolta 28 2017 she received grants for research from the Swedish Research Council for a three year project. Lately, she has had a number of solo shows and her work has been shown at Moderna museet in Stockholm, among others. Katarina Pirak Sikku is an associate at the Centre for Gender Research at the University of Uppsala.

Tuesday 26.3, 18:00 Søssa Jørgensen and Geir Tore Holm– Stream ripple – Our Inner River Presentation of three projects focusing on collaboration, natural environment, and traditions: Sørfinnset skole/ the nord land, an art project established in Gildeskål, Nordland in 2003. An inves- tigation of the ways contemporary art can function locally, in between cultural heritage, land management, and in- novative thinking. On working on the farm Øvre Ringstad, Skiptvet, Østfold where the speed and working hours are decided by the seasons: “The life at the farm is far from a pastoral idyllic place. At the farm the perspective is the opposite. We see the world through the farm. It’s a vessel, an instrument.” The art project Landbruksspørsmål is based on a collaboration between the artists and the Skiptvet farmers. The artists have a residency at Tensta konsthall during March.

Friday 5.4, 14:00 Walk along Igelbäcken When Let the River Flow was first shown at OCA, The artists Søssa Jørgensen and Geir Tore Holm made a public performative walk along the Holsbekken creek, a creek that unites with Glomma, Norway’s biggest river. Together with the artists Ylva Wester- lund and Mats Adelman, who live and work in Järvafältet in Tensta, they will perform a walk alongside the Igel- bäcken, that has had deep impact on the landscape and the inhabitants for thousands of years, being a source to a multitude of stories. The walk will be in the form of a conversation in motion about the importance of the creek in the area throughout centuries.

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Tensta konsthall Staff

Cecilia Widenheim director Didem Yildirim production coordinator Fahyma Alnablsi reception and Language Café Fredda Berg host Hanna Nordell producer Henny Josefsson host Makda Embaie assistant Muna Al Yaqoobi assistant Womens’ Café Nawroz Zakholy assistent Paulina Sokolow communicatons and press Rasmus Sjöbeck Special thanks to: host Drew Snyder Liv Brissach Ingrid Moe Interns Katya García-Antón Nikhil Vettukattil Alba Lindblad Sámi Parliament of Norway Ella Saar Ockie Basgül Dogan The exhibition is produced by Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA). Its original presentation in Installation Oslo was curated by Katya García- Antón with Antonio Cataldo and Johan Wahlgren was honoured by the guidance of an Ingrid Johansson Advisory Council consisting of Sámi Mario Fjell scholars, Prof. Harald Gaski and Dr. Ulrika Gomm Gunvor Guttorm.

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