Welcome to a public discussion about Forest Sámi history and identity.
Mats Jonsson, Cartoon Artist,
Gudrun Norstedt, Forest Historian
Krister Stoor, Ethnologist and Folklorist
Jörgen Stenberg, Forest Sami and reindeer herder
The conversation is led by Åsa Össbo historian and researcher.
Free admission. Language: Swedish.
See everything happening this weekend:
https://www.bildmuseet.umu.se/en/programme/calendar/
The public discussion is made in collaboration with Várdduo Center for Sami Research, Umeå University
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The conversation takes place in connection with the exhibition Mats Jonsson / Still Sámi.
It was not until the death of Mats Jonsson’s grandfather that his children and grandchildren discovered that they were Sámi. This secret had remained hidden in a bentwood box filled with documents from the grandfather’s time as a reindeer herder.
Jonsson has drawn the story behind the family secret in black ink on white card as he uncovered it in the archives and memories of old people. While working on the graphic novel När vi var samer [When We Were Sámi], he realised that he always had been surrounded by Sámi artefacts and traditions without understanding their meaning. In his exhibition, he compiles the traces of Sámi culture and places them side by side with his drawings in an attempt to fill the space that silence hollows out in those who grow up assimilated.