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Through a Southern Sámi perspective, Tomas Colbengtson explores themes such as remembrance and colonial history on the Swedish side of Sápmi. Colbengtson's exhibition When Shapes and Shadows Speak/ Goh tjoevke jih soejvene soptseste sheds light on personal and collective stories about the authorities' abuse of indigenous peoples. The works deal with cultural oppression such as prohibition against Sámi language, religion and reindeer husbandry. It deals, in particular, with the little known historical event of the Swedish state's forced relocation of Sámi from Northern Sámi to South Sámi areas in the 20th century, a move which created conflicts that are still ongoing and still affecting people.

The conversation between Tomas Colbengtson and Dr. Liisa-Rávná Finbog takes place in the exhibition room and will touch upon several of the stories from the artworks. The works describe both individuals and communities who have undergone political and physical abuse in the form of racial biological research, prohibition of Sámi languages and cultural practice, and deprivation of one's own residential areas. At the same time, Colbengtson's work looks forward in a hopeful way, as the South Sámi culture still is alive. How can Colbengtson's work be of help in the healing of a collective trauma?

The conversation will thus also touch on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, which was published in June this year. Simultaneously, a truth commission in Sweden is also working to survey and spread knowledge of Sámi history and political abuses committed against the Sámi on the Swedish side. In context of this, we would also like to point out that over 700 days have passed since the Fosen judgment was handed down in Supreme Court, yet it is not followed by the state.

The conversation lasts approximately 50 minutes and is followed by Q&A's. Introduction by Raisa Porsanger, curator and communications officer at Kunstnerforbundet.

→ Read more about the exhibition here.

The book Faamoe (2019), about Tomas Colbengtson's artistic practice, is for sale in the gallery.

Tomas Colbengtson (b. 1957, Tärnaby, Sweden) is a South Sami visual artist with education from Konstfack (MFA), 1991. In the period 1998–2008 he was a resident artist at The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Colbengtson is the founder of the nomadic residency Sápmi Salasta – Sápmi embraces. He has had exhibitions both in Sápmi, Scandinavia and internationally. Since 2022 has he exhibited at Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš/Sami Center for Contemporary Art in Karasjok, Scandinavian House in New York, National Nordic Museum in Seattle, Enter ArtFair in Copenhagen, Galleri Helle in Stockholm, Museum Cerny in Bern, Switzerland, and Saemien Sijte in Snåsa, to name a few. His works have been purchased by, among others, the Sami Parliament, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, RiddoDuottarMuseat, KORO, the National Museum, H.M. Queen Sonja's art collection and The State Council for the Arts in Sweden. 

Dr. Liisa-Rávná Finbog is a Sami archaeologist, museologist and duojár from Oslo, Vaapste and Skánit/Skånland on the Norwegian side of Sápmi. Finbog combines her duodji practice with academic work and links Sámi epistemology with western academia. She submitted the doctorate in museology at the University of Oslo in 2021 with the thesis It Speaks to You, in which she looked at the relationship between museums, Sami identities and duodji. In recent years she has worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tampere, Finland, as well as being a curator for Sámi Pavilion during the Venice Biennale of Art in 2022. She has, together with Beaska Niillas and Timimie Märak, founded the Hásttuheaddji Collective.