Wednesday 7 April 5-6.15 pm CET

Rupture, erosion and Sámi aesthetics by Iver Jåks

Online keynote by Irene Snarby (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)

Log on to Zoom: https://uit.zoom.us/j/68839665739?pwd=MElkQm5tUW1DUVUraWtnTnZnRFpKQT09

Abstract. For many Sámi people, duodji (commonly translated as Sámi handicraft. The word was used extensively to define the community’s creative activities) is one of the strongest indicators of Sámi identity. Their relationship with their traditions signifies deep collective values and norms. Intangible knowledge is an important part of both the process and the experience of duodji. Consequently, Sámi traditions and the practice of duodji are subject to varying degrees of knowledge and understanding. Iver Jåks (1932-2007) stressed the importance of duodji as not being exclusively associated with memories, keepsakes and the past, and was concerned with giving his art relevant content as contemporary art. In the presentation, Snarby will elaborate how a deep and specific notion of duodji and ancient Sámi thinking incorporated with avant-garde art practices inform Jåks’s three-dimensional works. Through his practice, which was closely associated with a broad, holistic understanding of duodji, he gave a voice to Sámi methods, traditions and experiences in an arena that had previously rejected Sámi art as ethnology rather than art.

Irene Snarby (b. 1967) is a PhD fellow in Art History at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, and also a member of the research group WONA (Worlding Northern Art). Snarby has researched and worked in the field of Sámi art since the early 1990s. From 2003 to 2011 she worked as a curator at the Art Department of The Sámi Museum in Karasjok, RiddoDuottarMuseat (RDM). In addition, she was a member of the Sámi Parliament’s acquisition committee for contemporary art and dáiddaduodji. Besides working as a consultant and curator, Snarby has written numerous articles, edited several publications, and lectured widely on the subject of Sámi art.