23 April we are opening the exhibition The speechless, an exciting collaborative project between visual artist Marte Lill Somby and art photographer Jukke Rosing.
What Exhibition: The language-less
Where: Centre for Northern Peoples
Exhibition period23 April – 30 June
Who decides who you are, and who you belong to?
When are you correct and when are you wrong?
Who sets the criteria and who approves?
These are the questions that started the project.
De språkløse (The speech-less) is a collaborative project between visual artist Marte Lill Somby and art photographer Jukke Rosing.
Marte Lill Somby is Sámi, but speaks Norwegian. Jukke Rosing is Greenlandic, but speaks Danish. Both have fought their whole lives to adapt and find acceptance. Both are descendants of reindeer herding families, but neither of them grew up with the reindeer herding culture.
The project is about an identity crisis, the search for answers, and the need for acceptance. Lacking one's mother tongue and father tongue.
The project is visualised through photography, and here both will convey their messages about who they are and how they see each other. Marte and Jukke have been working since 2017 on a collaboration spanning countries, cultures, and identities. With a strong common denominator – the voiceless and the story of a reindeer herding culture in two countries.
There are many gaps they have fallen into. With the imagery, they want to identify the power and value of the language. And at the same time, tell parts of the little-known history of Sámi reindeer husbandry in Greenland. An important piece of the collaborative project was to increase knowledge about Greenland and Sápmi, look at similarities, and gain a greater understanding of each other, thereby confirming their own identities as Sámi and Greenlanders, and as indigenous women. Identity is reflected through culture, clothing, language, food, and common interests. And together, they hope they will be a voice for the voiceless and put a visual image on their vulnerability.
This travelling exhibition will visit three countries. They hope to increase understanding of what it means to be without language, to be part of something, yet simultaneously apart from it.
Due to the coronavirus restrictions, there will be no event around the opening. We hope to arrange an event with both artists present during the month of June.
Also read:
Giving a voice to the voiceless