On February 15, ASF invites you to a virtual panel on the Duodji Reader: A Selection of Twelve Essays on Duodji by Sámi Duojárat and Writers from the Past 60 Years, produced by Sámi Allaskuvla / Sámi University of Applied Sciences and Norwegian Crafts. Edited by Gunvor Guttorm and Harald Gaski, Duodji Reader explores the Sámi duodji, the artistic crafts form of the Indigenous people of the European Arctic, through essays written by 11 prominent Sámi scholars, duojárat, and writers from North, South, and Lule Sámi areas. Duodji demonstrates a holistic circle of creation, how nature and humans collaborate in recognising, visualising, and shaping items that serve the need for both practical use and aesthetic form. In today’s program, co-editor Harald Gaski will moderate a conversation on the book and the craft form with contributor Irene Snarby, co-editor Gunvor Guttorm, and Norwegian Crafts representative and publication project manager Tonje Kjellevold.

This event will take place as a Zoom webinar; please ask questions in the chat or send them in advance to  info@amscan.org. Registration is required; please sign up at the link above. This conversation will be recorded and available later to stream on our Virtual Programming page and on our YouTube channel.

Irene Snarby is a PhD fellow in Art History at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway and a member of the research group WONA (Worlding Northern Art). Snarby has researched and worked in the field of Sámi art since the early 1990s. From 2003 to 2011 she worked as a curator at the Art Department of The Sámi Museum in Karasjok, RiddoDuottarMuseat (RDM). In addition, she was a member of the Sámi Parliament’s acquisition committee for contemporary art and dáiddaduodji. Besides working as a consultant and curator, Snarby has written numerous articles, edited several publications, and lectured widely on the subject of Sámi art.

Gunvor Guttorm is Professor in Duodji (Sámi arts and crafts, traditional art, applied art) at the Sámi University College in Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino in Norway. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in duodji at Sámi University College level, both practically and theoretically, and has written several articles about how the traditional knowledge of Sámi art and craft is transformed to the modern lifestyle, as well as on contemporary Sámi handicrafts. She has also participated in exhibitions in Sápmi and abroad, and was a rector from 2015-2019.

Tonje Kjellevold (b. 1989) lives in Oslo. She is the project manager of networks, collaborations and partnerships at Norwegian Crafts. She is the co-editor of the craft anthology Earth, Wind, Fire, Water (Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2020) together with curator Randi Grov Berger. Through her work at Norwegian Crafts she has contributed to many international exhibitions and other projects, including the Sino-Norwegian exhibition Beyond G(l)aze, Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, China and KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes, Bergen (2015); the Nordic Craft Pavilion magic language /// game of whispers at Revelations Fine Craft and Creation Fair, Grand Palais, Paris (2015); the exhibition series Norwegian Presence: Norwegian Contemporary Crafts and Design, Milan (2015–2019) and Earth, Wind, Fire, Water – the 44th edition of Tendenser at Galleri F 15 in Norway. Kjellevold holds a BA in East-Asian studies and Mandarin Chinese from the University of Oslo, with additional language studies in Mandarin from Fudan University, Shanghai.

Harald Gaski is Professor in Sámi Literature at Sámi allaskuvla / Sámi University of Applied Sciences and of Sámi Culture and Literature at UiT – the Arctic University of Norway. He was born in Deatnu (Tana) in North Norway. Gaski is the author and editor of several books on Sámi literature and culture and has also translated Sámi literature and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää’s poetry into Norwegian and English.

Gaski’s research specializes on Indigenous methodologies and Sámi oral and written culture. Gaski has been instrumental in establishing Sámi literature as an academic field and has been awarded for his research and writing.