Konstfack Research Seminar and live podcast with Anders Sunna

Imagine being able to speak all the world’s languages without saying a word

Anders Sunna in conversation with Sixten Liu and CuratorLab 2023/34

Seminar description
Sámi painter and activist Anders Sunna was a student at Konstfack between 2006-2009, in 2022 he was one of the artists featured in the Sámi Pavilion at the 59. Venice Biennale. CuratorLab invites him to return to school for the first time for a-live podcast recording looking back at his practice, a sense of purpose as an artist, about art as a means of communication and activism, and his everyday life.

“As I grew older, I became interested in using art as a weapon in the political struggle. Imagine being able to speak all the world’s languages without saying a sound. To reach people’s hearts first and then their consciousness. The anger you are carrying suddenly finds a way to emerge but in a more creative form, stronger than iron. Art is that. During my upbringing, we did not have the financial opportunity to document our history with cameras. But with the help of each other’s memories and experiences, we were able to talk about it. And later, we could begin to make a life through art. Art has played a very important role in our family’s survival, through art life became easier for us. Eventually, people began to hear our story.” AS

Anders Sunna is a Swedish Sámi artist known for incorporating a strong political point of view into his artwork. Sunna was born in the Jukkasjärvi parish of Kiruna, Norrbotten County, Sweden. He grew up in a reindeer herding family in Kieksiäisvaara near the border of Finland and was educated at Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå and the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. Nowadays he lives in Jokkmokk, Sweden.

Sunna's art is political, often focusing on Sámi history and his family's long-standing conflict with the county administrative board's reindeer husbandry delegation. In his work, Sunna uses thick layers of color, graffiti techniques, collage, and prints with motifs depicting oppression of the Sámi, including forced relocations and photographs from the Swedish State Institute for Racial Biology (from Wikipedia).