John Savio

Liv Astrid Kvammen Svaleng
What is special about John Savio's art is the pure expression. Which at first glance may appear simple. 

Narrator
John Andreas Savio was the first Sami artist to be bought into the National Museum. And his artworks are unique in our time, says Liv Astrid Kvammen Svaleng, museum director at the Savio Museum in Kirkenes. 

Liv Astrid Kvammen Svaleng
What distinguishes John Savio from many other artists of his time was that he had made it his life's task to tell the world about his Sami identity. A people, a language and a way of life that was not appreciated by society in the new era of industrialization and globalization. 

Narrator
Savio was born in 1902 and grew up in Sør-Varanger in Eastern Finnmark. Quite early on he showed a talent for drawing. His schoolbooks were full of doodles of motifs he knew from Sami everyday life and reindeer herding. These would later reappear in his art. 

Liv Astrid Kvammen Svaleng
His motifs from reindeer herding and Sami daily life, they are part of an annual cycle, where we follow the eight Sami seasons with the reindeer's life course and the people's activities related to the season. 

And since he was highly aware of his own Sami identity, he was able to describe both the external actions and the internal feelings of people who were so dependent on the nature around them. Sami life and the reindeer, the little man in the magnificent nature. 

Narrator
John Andreas Savio died young, aged just 36, but his legacy lives on.

Liv Astrid Kvammen Svaleng
He brought out the Sami people's struggle against society through depictions of the struggle against predators and natural forces. For many Sami, his art represents a strong symbol of identity. 

And the legacy of Savio is a priceless treasure not only for Sami society, but he also has an important place in Norwegian art history.