9.10.2024- 9.01.2025
The exhibition The Stranger by Elisabeth Hætta contains textiles, paintings and poems. These revolve around her, who is dressed in a Sea Sami bridal outfit. The works thematise identity, belonging and the ultimate consequences of exclusion.
Living as a free human being in community with the rest of society is not a given for queer people. It is a right that must constantly be fought for by the individual and the queer community. Many queer people have experience of intolerance. Some have communities they can turn to for support when it happens, while others have to deal with it on their own and in some cases are ostracised from their families and communities.
Intolerance is not making room for foreign values and ways of life. It's taking up space in other people's lives and giving them difficult living conditions. The contempt conveyed through intolerance helps to isolate the victim from the rest of the world. Through inflicted shame, depression and loneliness, the stranger's life will be in danger. And for queer people, the situation is particularly perilous.
In the exhibition The stranger the suicide risk is thematised through a Sea Sami queer bride who is a minority within the minority. This means that she is particularly vulnerable to intolerance. Not only from society at large, but also from the Sami community.
Elisabeth Hætta is Norwegian-Sami and lives in Tromsø. Her Sea Sami family comes from Kvænangen in North Troms, while her Norwegian family is from Meløy in Nordland. Elisabeth grew up in Tromsø in a Norwegian environment. Her work with duodji has brought her closer to her Sami origins, and she is keen to preserve the Sami cultural heritage by using traditional methods and materials in her textile work. When it comes to themes, she is particularly interested in communicating the challenges faced by vulnerable people.
The exhibition has previously been shown at Nord-Troms museum.