BACKGROUND

I am Sami. Born in Stockholm by a Sami mother who was brought up on the arctic coast. Since my childhood I have spent many summers in my mother's birthplace. I have strong memories and bonds to the cultures of the Sami along the seaside and to the reindeer-herding Sami.

I work as a doctor and have in periods worked in Sápmi. It was as an adult that I realized the extent of oppression the Sami people had been subject to in the entire Sápmi, i.e. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. All indigenous peoples are subject to the same oppression where the most common denominators are banishing and depriving people of their language and dignity.

There are political fora to discuss and try to influence states to reform. There is a new interest for music from different indigenous people. There is a growing awareness about identity and affiliation.

How do you express affiliation, identity, relationship and community? I have tried. I am rootless in my identity as a Sami in the city. I am rootless in my identity as a Sami in Sápmi. Maybe it is this rootlessness I want to express. I look out from all the faces and I look in on all faces. The exhibition is me and us and grandmother.