Beaivváša Beaivvi Máhccan 2020-2024 // The Suns' Days of Return 2020-2024
with Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari
What is it about?
“There is a lot of color, and many people feel threatened by color. I remember from Vadsø when I went with my father to ‘the city’ once, we wore gákti and some were very provoked by our colorful clothes and shouted things at us. I realized it was because we were the only ones wearing these clothes, because everyone else had stopped wearing them, because of being pointed at. When I asked father if we also had to stop wearing gákti so as not to be bothered by strangers, then father said we couldn’t stop showing who we were, and that we had a right to be who we are, just as much as they have to be who they are, that we had to be strong, and not to throw the colors away from us, even if they shouted that it hurt their eyes to see us!”
Excerpt from exhibition text by Arden Johnson.
Johnson`s parents are from Girkonjárga, Kárášjohka, Guovdageaidnu, Ráisa, Árdni and Gárasavvon. From and now living in Duluth, Minnesota, United States of America, he spent two years in Oslo and Uppsala as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, and has visited Sápmi several times. A co-editor of Árran, a quarterly magazine for Sami Americans for 12 years, he translated news, articles and poetry, including by his friend and relative Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari.
