F. Portrait wall

Portrait wall 

Sami are individuals belonging to the same ethnic group. The large wall of portraits emphasizes this view, and shows the many faces of a people. Our intention is to give individual faces to an ethnic group; the Sami people. Between the portraits runs quotes which expresses different views on what different people consider essential for their Sami identity – or; what it is that makes them Sami:

My feeling of belonging to our own area in the fjordland is strong. Here, I can fully express my Sami identity.

Great grandmother, grandmother, mother and daughter - I belong to a long line of ancestors. This makes me a Sami.

Having an opportunity to walk the mountains, go fishing, and sit with the elders, listening to their stories...

Social contact with other Samis living an urban life, is essential to my Sami origins.

Asphalt Sami, that’s what I am

Although I do not speak the Sami language, or wear traditional clothes, I am still a Sami.

When the King opened The Sámi Parliament, and when Mari Boine sang during the wedding ceremony at the Crown Prince’s wedding, I felt a strong sense of belonging to other Samis.

I was not aware I was Sami until I came to Kjøpsvik and found out that the people there were different from those at home in Musken.

A large part of my Sami identity comes from being a member of The Laestadian Congregation, and to being a Christian.

First and foremost, we are all humans - then we are Samis, or Norwegians, or Africans, or...

care for and other things to attend to.

Although I am Sami, I do not walk about thinking of it all day long - I have children to care for and other things to attend to. I was born a Sami, and so I cannot choose to be anything else.

 The Sami identity is as diverse as all the individual members of the Sami society – just as the Sami culture is manifold