Between the years 2024-2026 I exhibit two of my artworks Malign:Time and Bárgáldahka – The Braid at Sápmi Triennale, a curated travelling exhibition in Sápmi (Norway, Finland and Sweden).
The works Bárgáldahka – The Braid and Malign:Time approach their subject through textiles and photography. They deal with the emotions of a mother trying to help her daughter through chemotherapy treatment – a journey of living life moment by moment, day by day. Rooted in Sami tradition and culture, the works reflect the artist’s connection to the chain of generations, both past and future. The resilience inherent in being Sami has helped her explore difficult moments and transform those into works of art in which individual experiences speak to the common core of humanity. The artist’s daughter and is well and healthy today.
Title: Bárgáldahka – The Braid
Year: 2023
Size: 50 cm x 7 meter (1 m weving + 6 meter braid)
Techique and material: Weaving on a warp-weighted standing loom with recycled textile fabrics and rags from previous generations as warp and carded and hand spun wool yarn as weft.
At the beginning of our daughterś chemotherapy treatment she made a decision to cut off her long braid. A decision that marked the transition from her previous life as an active teenager to a new life in hospital. The way our daughter placed the cut braid on the table in front of her made me, as a mother, perceive the braid as a spiritual gift – perhaps an offering – for protection, help and future health. In the work Bárgáldahka, I have explored ways to make this act visible at the same time I interweave the creativity and power of our foremothers.
Title: Malign:Time
Year: 2023
Material: Fine Art ChromaLuxe print on aluminium
Size: 93 cm x 140 cm
A captured moment with the last two eyelashes.
My daughter was undergoing chemotherapy. One day during my daughter’s treatment, as we were driving to our cabin, she realized she had lost all but two of her eyelashes. She knew they would be gone the next day and wanted to capture them in a photo before they disappeared. I called the photographer Carl-Johan Utsi who happened to be nearby. Upstairs, in his parents’ house, she put on her wig and Carl-Johan took this picture of my daughter with the two eyelashes.
Note, my daughter is well and healthy today.
Information about Sápmi Trennale
The first-ever Sápmi Trienniale presents a spectacular array of Sámi contemporary art and duodji, traditional Sámi handicrafts. The exhibition showcases the abundance and vitality of Sámi cultural heritage. The works highlight themes which are deeply rooted in tradition and identity, as well as the challenges of contemporary life. Included in Sápmi Triennial are both rising stars as well as artists with lengthy careers. The works are engaged in a conversation between different countries and generations, and displays what is happening right now in Sámi contemporary art.
Sápmi Trienniale is the result of a cooperation between seven different organisations from Nordic countries operating within and outside Sápmi. An open call for artists and artworks for the exhibition was launched in autumn 2023. Almost 100 applications came in from Finland, Sweden and Norway. In the end, 28 artists’ works were chosen for the exhibition: duodji handicrafts, dáiddaduodji art, video, sound and installation art, photograph, painting, textiles, ceramics and literature.
Exhibition artists: Anna-Stina Svakko, Charlotte Nilsen, Christin Løkke, Eiril Linge, Elina Waage Mikelsen, Eva Kitok, Geir Tore Holm & Søssa Jørgensen, Gjert Rognli, Gunvor Guttorm, Hanne Grieg Hermansen, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Helena Lagerqvist Kuoljok, Helmi Aletta Hagelin & Nuura Naboulsi, Inga-Wiktoria Påve, Inger Blix Kvammen, Jorunn Løkvold, Jouni S. Laiti, Kirsi Paltto, Katarina Spik Skum, Maarit Magga, Matti Aikio, Monica L Edmondson, Odd Marakatt Sivertsen, Reetta Tornensis, Susanne Ewerlöf and Tilde-Ristin Kuoljok.
The jury included three artist members from the Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš SDG (Sámi Center for Contemporary Art) board, the Director of Kin Museum of Contemporary Art Maria Lind, and Curator Ulla Viitanen from Korundi Rovaniemi Art Museum.
The exhibition is produced in collaboration with Sámi Center for Contemporary Art (Karasjok) Norway, Nordlandsmuseet & Bodø2024 Norway, Korundi Rovaniemi Art Museum Finland, Oulu Art Museum & Oulu2026 Finland as well as Kin Museum of Contemporary Art (Kiruna Sweden). The inaugural opening of the Triennial was in Bodø Norway in August 2024 after which the exhibition is on show at Karasjok 6.2–30.3.2025, Korundi Rovaniemi Art Museum 14.6.–23.11.2025, Oulu Art Museum spring of 2026 and as part of a wider exhibition at Kin Museum of Contemporary Art Kiruna in summer of 2026.
