On 6 February, we are opening the exhibition Ságastallamat áiggiid čađa – dialogue through time. The exhibition showcases processes of change and highlights the abuses committed by the Norwegian state against the Sámi population during the period of Norwegianisation.
The travelling exhibition Ságastallamat áiggiid čađa – Dialogue through time is a collaboration with curator Gry Fors, and three artists; Hege Annestad Nilsen, Thomas Colbengtson and Matti Aikio.
Photographs from several periods convey the significant cultural changes that Sámi communities on the coast of West Finnmark have undergone from the late 1800s to the present day.
The Sámi language and culture were on the verge of disappearing as a result of 150 years of the Norwegianisation policy. This policy caused Sámi and Kven people to feel ashamed of their heritage, and the language and culture were omitted and concealed. The church and the school were important institutions in the effort to make the Sámi and Kven people into good, Norwegian citizens.
Although much has happened in a positive direction, this is still painful for many. The exhibition Stories through time – dialogue in time highlights the injustice inflicted upon the Sámi through a harsh Norwegianisation policy, and shows the changes that occurred in the coastal Sámi communities as a result of this.
This project is based on Israel Fors' photographs and texts from the post-war period. Israel Fors was born into a sea Sami family in a turf hut in Øksfjordbotn in 1923. During the Second World War, he worked at the school boarding house in Øksfjordbotn. After being subjected to physical violence and threats by a German soldier, he fled to Sweden in 1942. He eventually emigrated to the USA, where he trained as a teacher and settled in San Francisco. Every summer, Israel travelled to Norway for holidays and began taking photographs of local life in his home village and in Kautokeino. This resulted in a collection of 360 photographs. When Israel died in 1996, this collection was donated to the Tromsø Museum, where the photographic material has been digitised.
Three Sámi artists were commissioned to create works based on Israel Fors's photo collection, his written material, portraits from descendants of Israel Fors's family, and photos and film from Loppa municipality.
The photographs belong to Tromsø Museum, while the art has been loaned by Sámiid Vuorká-Dávvirat / The Sami Collections in Karasjok.
The exhibition premiered at Tråante 2017, the 100th anniversary of the first Sami congress in Trondheim in 1917.
