Sábmi with only Sámi place names / Sápmi dušše sámi báikenamaiguin

/ Sábmi (Sameland) med kun samiske stedsnavn, 1975

“To deny a child the use of its mother tongue is an irreparable crime that will have tragic consequences for the next generations. My heart cries when I think of the people that have undergone such spiritual torture, and as I learned more about it, I was intensely convinced that this has to stop, and I should take part in it. I also encouraged several others to do the same. As an artist I found unique ways to promote Sámi revitalization.”

Keviselie/ Hans Ragnar Mathisen

Samí history from the Middle Ages to the present contains not only 500 years of colonisation right in the middle of Northern Europe but also 500 years of resistance and survival. At a young age, the Sámi artist Keviselie/Hans Ragnar Mathisen began to map the Sámi settlement area, which extends over Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and to inscribe it in the Samí language. In doing so, Keviselie did not adhere to the territorial division of European nation states: “Many Sámit could now see with their own eyes that the homeland of our people are much more extensive than originally thought. I believe it has contributed to the strengthening of Sámi identity both on individual and group level, and thus practically given content to Sápmi, a term now in common use.”

During his time at the Oslo Art Academy in the 1970s, cartography became both a creative and a political project for the Sámi artist. The Sámi revitalisation movement gathered momentum from the 1968s onwards, with protests against the planned construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Sámi heartland. The struggle for cultural and political recognition continues to this day. Keviselie’s maps crucially contribute to the revival of Sámi cultural identity, the struggle against intra-European colonialism. His goal is for his people to build a nation of their own: Sapmi. In 2022, the Nordic pavilion at the Venice Biennale will give a stage to Sámi artists.

Keviselie/Hans Ragnar Mathisen (born in 1945 in Áhkkánjárga/Narvik, Norway / lives and works in Sapmi, Norway) is an artist and writer. Keviselie studied art in Oslo (1971-78) and was an early member of the Sami Artist Group, who returned to their homeland in 1970 to fight for self-determination and decolonisation. His work, which includes a detailed map of the Sami region, played a major role in the revival of Sami culture and language and has been featured in several solo and group exhibitions.

→keviselie

© Keviselie/ Hans Ragnar Mathisen
Keviselie/ Hans Ragnar Mathisen,
Sámi place names/ Sápmi dušše sámi báikenamaiguin/ Sábmi (Sameland) med run samiske stedsnavn, 1975
Reproduction | 88 × 73cm