"We have a dialogue, the rest we will take "
Mixed techniques from paintings, sculpture and installation by Anders Sunna.
" With bureaucracy, a modern way of colonizing.
A lengthy process that is based more on the economic and
mental degradation of the culture and nutrition.
A way to get away.
With violence, you risk getting the eyes of the outside world on you and more difficult
to refuse and can not be active for a long time.
With bureaucracy, you can give it a life of its own and always blame it.
Where no politician or official can be punished ...
Because it is the text in the paper that is wrong.
Where those in power always have a dialogue to get their will through,
but are you against.
Then it is you who is the conflict problem.
Even if it would be the best option for everyone. "
Anders Sunna
A North Sami artist (born 1985) from a reindeer herding family in Kieksiäisvaara, on the Swedish side of Sápmi. Sunna's politically charged works of art tell the story of the Sami people's violence and oppression and very specifically address his family's five decades long struggle for their right and recognition to be forest reindeer herders.
Due to government policies, the family lost its reindeer ear badges, a custom that demonstrates the individual ownership of reindeer and the right to work as a herder.
Sunna himself says that the works with "guerrilla herding" and uses his artistic practice to strengthen the Sami community. With powerful imagery and political satire, his paintings, graffiti, sculptures and installations depict how the abuse of authority and power leads to the exploitation of land and natural resources, forced relocation and racial persecution for Sami.
Sunna was recently shown in the exhibition Àbadakone at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2019, and at the Sydney Biennale, NIRIN, 2020, both of which focused on indigenous artists. Sunna had two separate exhibitions in 2020: in Adde Zetterquist gallery, Røkland, on the Norwegian side of Sápmi, and Exploration Target - Area Infected at Varbergs konsthall, Gothenburg, Sweden. Sunna is currently participating in the Bergen Festival Exhibition 2020 with a painting commissioned by and in collaboration with the Sami artist Joar Nango, the festival's main artist.
Sunna studied visual arts at Konstfack in Stockholm 2006–2009 and at Umeå Academy of the Arts 2004–2006. He has been commissioned to create a number of public works of art, including at the Sami University in Guovdageaidnu and Alta High School on the Norwegian side of Sápmi, and especially in the courtroom in the district court in Gällivare, Swedish side, 2013, where many court cases in Sami issues continue to be addressed today. In 2016, he collaborated with Máret Ánne Sara on stage images for the concert Lapp Affair - Unfinished business at the Arctic Arts Festival in Harstad, Norway. He has also collaborated with the Sami artist Sofia Jannok with a graffiti performance for her music video We are still here, 2016.
Sunna's work has been widely shown in Sápmi and internationally. OCA presented Sunna 2017 when he did the scenography exhibition in connection with Museum on Fire !, a symposium that considers the intricacies of the colonial heritage of art institutions, and the spaces and processes through which domestic artistic practices, past and present, should be addressed today.
In 2022, Andres Sunna is represented at the world-famous Venice Biennale 2022, Nordic Pavilion-Sámi Pavilion
https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/venice-biennale-2022-artist-list-1796493
Where? Nordic Institute on Åland, Storagatan 9, Mariehamn
When? February 1st - March 12th, Thursdays at 17-20 and Saturdays at 12-15.
Digital vernissage February 1st, at 18.00, on Zoom.
For other times or private viewings, please book an appointment.