Break

Art historian Irene Snarby talks about Máret Ánne Sara`s work.

Irene Snarby 
We see an object and a photograph. 
  
In the photograph we see a woman sitting with a komse on her lap – a type of crib. There is a small child lying inside there. The woman is dressed in a gákti - a traditional Sami garment - which has a fringed shawl over her shoulders, and a hat on her head. 
There is a little boy next to her, who Inger Blix Kvammen thinks is her father. The gákti that she is wearing, is from Kautokeino, and Kvammen's family – a Sami family – comes from this area. 
 
The object is made of sedge grass and is woven together with silver threads to make it malleable. This has turned it into a kind of jewellery installation.   
 
She’s very connected to indigenous thinking, and how people have survived in harsh environments. 
She really tries to get into people's lives and see the hard work and the struggle. And at the same time, the aesthetic and the beautiful. Sustainability has also been a key word the whole time. 
 
The traditional use of sedge grass, which has been used throughout history to keep people warm, meant people were completely dependent on it.  
It grows in wet areas and has a hollow stem, so insulates well. It has many of the same properties as wool – even if it gets damp, it retains heat.  
Those who lived completely nomadic would exchange sedge grass for reindeer meat.  
So, it was a natural and sustainable use of nature that no longer has the same reputation in modern everyday life. 
 
When Inger Blix Kvammen uses this material, and weaves in silver threads so that it can be shaped, she has completely changed the use. And, turned everything upside down, in a way. 
At the same time, it is a way of honouring this material to highlight it in a different setting, so that you can talk about what significance it has had, and how important it has been.