Máret Ánne Sara

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Máret Ánne Sara (2014)

Máret Ánne Sara (born December 23, 1983 in Kautokeino , Finnmark Province ) is a Sami - Norwegian visual artist , writer and journalist . She became known to an international audience through her participation in documenta 14 .

Life

Training and first exhibitions

Máret Ánne Sara grew up in a family that has lived on reindeer herding and herding for generations . She first studied English at the University of Tromsø and indigenous journalism at the Sami University in Kautokeino. From 2010 to 2011 she attended art and illustration courses at Arts University in Bournemouth . Again in Kautokeino, she completed an apprenticeship as a product designer . For seven years, from 2005 to 2012, she was the editor of the Sami youth magazine Š Nuoraidmagasiidna .

In 2003 she took part in a group exhibition of young visual artists in her hometown of Kautokeino. Her artistic work was shown for the first time in a solo exhibition in 2006 at the Siida Museum in Inari, Finland . Since then she has been exhibiting regularly, mainly in northern Scandinavia.

Working as a visual artist

Oaivemozit / Galskap / Madness

In her paintings , graphic works , sculptures and installations Maret Anne Sara reflects the colonial history of the indigenous people of Sámi , which it belongs itself. The focus is on current conflicts with the Norwegian central administration. In her graphic series Oaivemozit / Galskap / Madness , first shown in 2013 in Kautokeino, Hadsel , Bø and Oslo , she deals, among other things, with the construction of high-voltage overhead lines across reindeer calving areas in Sápmi . Archaic and modern ways of life collide in these works. The Sameting , the Sami Parliament in Karasjok , has acquired three prints from this series .

Pile o'Sápmi

Pile o'Sápmi before storting in Oslo

Her best-known project, Pile o'Sápmi , was triggered by current requirements of the Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act of 2007. The Norwegian government is forcing Sami reindeer keepers under the law to kill large herds of herds because Finnmark is overgrazed and the animals are causing environmental damage. The artist's younger brother, Jovsset Ánte Sara, who has taken over the family's herd, has also been asked to slaughter dozens of animals and reduce his herd to 75 reindeer. In his opinion, the reasons for the forced killing of the animals are bogus. In the future mining of rich mineral resources in Finnmark - including iron , copper and gold - he sees the real motive of the state. The reindeer are in the way. Jovsset Ánte Sara sued the Norwegian state and won the lawsuit on two counts. However, on December 21, 2017, the Oslo Supreme Court ruled that Jovsset Ánte Sara must reduce his herd.

Before the judgment was announced in the first instance on February 1, 2016, Máret Ánne Sara erected an installation in front of the regional court in Tana , which consisted of a heap of 200 cone-shaped bloody reindeer heads and a Norwegian flag placed ironically on top. With this work of art Sara wanted to support her brother's lawsuit and illustrate the interference in the traditional way of life of her people, which in reindeer herding develops a cultural expression of importance that can hardly be underestimated. The title of the installation, Pile o'Sápmi , refers to the “Pile of Bones”, a place in Regina , Canada , where Cree Indians piled bison bones to bind the spirit of the animals to the land. At the same time, Máret Ánne Sara ties in with the colonial history of North America, where mountains of bones testify to the destruction of animals and the displacement of the indigenous population.

In 2017, Máret Ánne Sara received an invitation to take part in documenta 14 in Kassel . Here she presented her installation Pile o'Sápmi in a further developed form. She made a three by four meter long curtain from now 300 reindeer skulls. All skulls have bullet holes that are easily visible to the observer. Two showcases contain a copy of the Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act as well as case files from her brother's legal proceedings. While the bullet holes in the middle of the skull address the lack of respect for the way of life of indigenous communities, the documents refer to the modern context of today's conflicts of interest. In the words of the artist: “We see how colonial power is exercised nowadays, with the means of law and democracy.” She showed her installation in December 2017, before the judgment of the Supreme Court, also before the Storting in Oslo.

Máret Ánne Sara's installation at the documenta received widespread attention worldwide and was counted among the highlights of the show several times.

Graphic design

In addition to her large-scale series and installations, Sara is regularly involved in graphic design. Among other things, she designs posters for the Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter, the National Theater of the Sami, and for film productions. Textile prints were created in cooperation with the Sami fashion designer Anne Berit Anti . She also designed various book and CD covers.

Máret Ánne Sara is a founding member and director of the Sami artist collective Dáiddadállu based in Kautokeino.

Author of novels for young people

In 2013, Máret Ánne Sara made her debut as a writer with the youth novel Ilmmiid gaskkas . In Norwegian translation, the first book of a planned trilogy was given the title Mellom verdener (Between the Worlds). The story is about the siblings Sanne and Lemme, who run away from home after an argument with their father about building a motocross course in a pasture area. The father is a reindeer herder and sees his existence threatened by the facility. The two youngsters end up bewitched by the reputation of a myling , the spirit of an unbaptized, newborn child, in the underworld. Even if they don't know where they are at first, they quickly realize that they have to turn into reindeer and run for their lives. The novel combines elements of fantasy with the oral Sami storytelling tradition and problematizes materialistic thinking and the associated destruction of nature. In 2014 the book was nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize , Youth Literature Section.

The second part of the series, Doaresbealde doali , appeared in 2014 on North Sami and is about the struggle of young people way back to their old world. The conflict between reindeer herders and industrial companies that claim their land is portrayed using the detective novel .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sigbjørn Skåden, Máret Ánne Sara . In: Norsk Biografisk Leksikon . Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c d Katya García-Antón, Máret Ánne Sara , documenta14.de. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b 300 reindeer skulls call for protest , 3sat.de. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b c Artistic Activity maretannesara. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  5. ^ Christian Horn, Art is not a warlike means , kunstschuleberlin.de. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  6. ↑ Mineraler og grus ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , fefo.no. Retrieved July 19, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fefo.no
  7. ↑ a b Reineier tapte i Høyesterett - må redusere flokken , Aftenposten , December 21, 2017.
  8. ↑ Photo of the installation Pile o'Sápmi
  9. ↑ Kaisa Ahvenjärvi, Reindeer Revisited. Traditional Sámi Features in Contemporary Sámi Poetry. In: Ann-Sofie Lönngren (ed.), Rethinking National Literatures and the Literary Canon in Scandinavia , Newcastle upon Tyne 2015, p. 107.
  10. ↑ Ingrid Brekke , Sami Art at Documenta: Playing on Many Strings , Goethe-Institut Norway, July 2017 (accessed on August 16, 2017).
  11. ↑ Day in Photos: June 9, 2017 , Voice of America News , June 9, 2017.
  12. ↑ Louisa Buck, The seven must-see art exhibitions of summer 2017 , The Telegraph , July 14, 2017.
  13. ↑ Spectacular from Kassel , art-magazin.de . Retrieved July 18, 2017 (with photo by Pile o'Sápmi ).
  14. ↑ The highlights of documenta , Focus Online , June 10, 2017.
  15. ↑ Om oss , daiddadallu.com. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  16. ↑ Kari Brenden-Bech, Ukens bokanbefaling: Máret Ánne Saras Mellom verdener , Biblioteksbloggen, accessed on July 18, 2017.
  17. ↑ Máret Ánne Sara about her book Mellom Verdener , kulturkind-into-the-wind.com, 2016 (accessed on July 19, 2017).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sara, Máret Ánne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mikkol Ivvara Jovsseha Ivvara Máret Ánne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sami-Norwegian artist, writer and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Kautokeino , Finnmark Province