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Sami women can be sexy too: photographer

Norwegian photographer Iris Egilsdatter is challenging shopworn stereotypes with her exhibition in Oslo looking at Sami women’s strength and sexuality.

Published: 21 March 2012 16:23 CET
Sami women can be sexy too: photographer
Photo: Iris Egilsdatter

Coming from a Sami background herself, the 32-year-old student from Varangerbotn in the far north of the country has seen first-hand the conservative impulses she feels have held back women in the indigenous population.

“Like anywhere else, people will watch Lady Gaga and like what they see. But if one of us acts in the same way we’ll get in trouble,” Egilsdatter told The Local.

“I think that’s true of Norway in general, but even more so in the Sami community.”

Egilsdatter’s pictures form part of the “Shameless” project, an exhibition of works from 37 students at the Bilder Nordic School of Photography.

“People have been really amazed by my pictures. The models and I are really proud of how relaxed and comfortable they look.”

Possibly fearing the reactions from friends and family, three of the women she photographed asked not to be included in the exhibition. But for 14 others, including Sami politician Heidi Persdatter Greiner Haaker, the experience has proved something of a revelation.

“I have to say I was deeply torn over whether I should be involved in this. After seeing the exhibition, I’m really glad I did it,” the 46-year-old member of the Sami parliament wrote on her blog.

Egilsdatter said the project remains a work in progress. She has ten more women lined up for photo shoots at Easter and is planning to present a broader cross-section of her work at further exhibitions later in the year.

“This is just a handful of the ladies. There’s a lot more to come. So, for example, there will also be images of women masturbating. I want to bring in wider aspects of sexuality.”  

After seven years as a hair and makeup artist – “I hated it” – Egilsdatter realized she wanted to find an outlet for her creative and ideological sides.

“One day I picked up a camera and immediately thought: wow, this is what I need to be doing.”

While conceding that hardline Christian conservatism once fulfilled an important function in a Sami community ravaged by alcoholism, Egilsdatter now believes it’s high time for a change.

“Being conservative is just another way of looking down on people. Modern women have birth control, good healthcare, and don’t need to be protected by an outdated moral code.”

She also hoped the exhibition would serve as an eye-opener for Norwegians with a prejudiced view of Sami life.

“We’re often accused of just taking, taking, taking, and giving nothing back. It’s quite a racist point of view. People will feel sorry for the American Indians without realizing that the situation is the same in Norway today.”

Iris Egilsdatter’s exhibition runs at Møllergata 3 in Oslo until March 24th. See more images here.

Iris Egilsdatter (Photo: Simen Øvergård)

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ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

Published: 8 July 2023 10:13 CEST
African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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