Senter for nordlige folk

Isak Kvitfjell

Visualizing Arctic Voices

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KUNSTUTSTILLING
VISUALIZING ARCTIC VOICES

Welcome to one of the most comprehensive exhibitions Riddu Riđđu has ever had! Through images from the Arctic (approx. 1750-1930), the art exhibition Visualizing Arctic Voices will tell and examine the traces of indigenous people’s biographies, culture and experiences in the face of colonization. The exhibition builds on five years of archival work and collaboration between researchers with western and indigenous backgrounds. We can’t wait to share these amazing stories with this year’s festival audience!

See the art exhibition Visualizing Arctic Voices during this festival. Through images of the Arctic (approx. 1750-1930) the exhibition will tell and examine the traces that exist of Indigenous people’s biographies, culture and experiences in the face of colonization.

Follow this link for the exhibition catalogue (In North Sámi and English:

https://arcticvoices.space/exhibtion

The images are linked to Indigenous peoples, landscapes and animals in Sápmi, Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), Inuit Nunangat (Northern Canada) and Alaska in a period of increased colonial pressure and contact. The images are tied together by the fact that they arose in meetings between people from different cultures, and with different agendas and understandings of relationships to people, animals, nature and culture. The art exhibition examines how historical images can retrieved and potentially enrich the history and culture for Arctic Indigenous people today.

In the exhibition you will also encounter works by Sámi artists, among others Outi Pieski, Anders Sunna, Raisa Porsanger, Áillohaš/Nils Aslak Valkeapää (1943-2001) og Aage Gaup (1943-2021), as well as the Greenlandic artist Bolatta Silis-Høegh and Sugpiat anthropologist, curator and artist Sven Haakanson. Their contributions to the exhibition invite conversations about repatriation, revitilization and ways to decolonize history.

Visualizing Arctic Voices is a collaboration between the Arctic Voices-project, Riddu Riđđu Festivála, Center of Northern Peoples and RiddoDuottarMuseat, with further contribution by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.

The exhibition has also received funding from The Research Council of Norway, The Nordic Culture Fund, Fritt Ord, Riddu Riđđu Festivála,  NAPA – Nordic Institute on Greenland and The UiT The Arctic University of Norway’s Equality  and Diversity Committee.

Welcome to a journey through pictures of the Arctic that tell forgotten and unrecognized stories to the audience! We hope that the art exhibition will contribute to good conversations about revitalization, repatriation and methods of decolonizing history.

The opening of the art exhibition is on thursday 11 of july at 18:00! The exhibition is open after the main opening to 20:00, and will be available to see (during Riddu Riđđu festival):
Thursday – saturday from 10:00 – 18:00 and sunday from 10:00 – 14:00.

After Riddu Riđđu it is avaiable to see: monday – friday from 10:00 – 15:00.

Anders Sunna, Death Means Nothing for the Colors, 2009. Sámi Dáiddamagasiidna / Sámi Art Collections, RiddoDuottarMuseat, Kárášjohka. Photo: Håkon Holmgren Gabrielsen.
Outi Pieski, Rádje johtin I (Finnish: Rajan käynti I; English: Pacing the Borders I), 2014. Sámi Dáiddamagasiidna / Sámi Art Collections, RiddoDuottarMuseat, Kárášjohka. Photo: Håkon Holmgren Gabrielsen.

The Copying of a Rátnu

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The Copying of a ‘Rátnu’

As part of the Bååstede project (restoration of Sámi cultural heritage), Dávvi Álbmogiid Guovddáš is in the process of copying a ‘rátnu’ that is included in the project. The background is the desire that certain objects that are part of the Bååstede project, should be able to be displayed both at the Sámi museums and at the Norwegian Folk Museum. This is solved by copying certain objects.

For DÁG’s part, this included one ‘rátnu’ that was part of the project, object no. NFSA 3655, which was woven by Nils Oppervoll from Manndalen in 1958. The goal of copying is also the preservation and strengthening of traditional Sámi production processes (intangible cultural heritage) from a Sámi perspective, from materials to finished product.

The copying project is also a knowledge transfer project, where thorough documentation of the process is done, including material knowledge. This should later be used for dissemination purposes. The project is carried out in collaboration with Manndalen husflidslag, whose members have the best expertise in Sámi ‘rátnu’ weaving.

Kjellaug Isaksen is responsible for the practical implementation and documentation. Project manager is Henrik Olsen.

Máhtut project

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Máhtut – Sámi Knowledge and Practises in the ERA of the Green Transition

This week we had our first meeting with partners in the Máhtut project in Manndalen. DÁG will contribute Sea Sami food traditions to this cross-border project, which, among other things, has food knowledge and food sovereignty as its focus.

The gathering in Manndalen this week focused on Sea Sami food expertise, and resources found in the local community. A visit to Vatnegården to Katarina Niva and Dag Runar Voldvik was part of the programme. They run both dairy cows and sheep and have several other animals on their farm, and are skilled communicators of local food production.

MÁHTUT – Sámi Knowledge and Practices in the ERA of the Green Transition aims to promote and preserve traditional Sami livelihood skills, knowledge and practices in Sami communities in various parts of Sápmi. It is a three-year project financed by Interreg Aurora’s Sápmi programme.

The project’s main collaboration partner (EU) is the University of Lapland. The other partners are Sámi oahpahusguovddáš (Anár), Várdduo, Center for Sámi research at (Umeå University) and Norway’s Arctic University Museum (Tromsø). The Center for Northern People is one of several Sami partners in the project.

Photo: Visit to Vatnegården in Manndalen.

Photographer: Henrik Olsen

Read more about the Máhtut project here: mahtutproject.com