In the Footsteps of the Stars—The Embroidered Worlds of Britta Marakatt-Labba

With works like Garjját (The Crows), Girdi noaiddit (Flying shamans), and Historjá, Britta Marakatt-Labba brings Sámi history to life through embroidery. The exhibition In the Footsteps of the Stars—The Embroidered Worlds of Britta Marakatt-Labba will be the artist’s first large-scale retrospective to be exhibited in Sweden.

For half a century, Britta Marakatt-Labba, born in Ađevuopmi/Idivuoma in Kiruna Municipality, and based in Badje Sohppar/Övre Soppero, has been one of Sápmi’s most prominent artists. Using a needle and thread, she has brought forth a rich and poetic narrative about the cultural and territorial struggles of the Sámi people. Along the way, Marakatt-Labba has constantly challenged conventional understandings about what should count as central and what should count as peripheral, what is important and what is desirable, both for herself personally and as an artist, but also as well as in terms of art in general.

The exhibition includes around eighty works produced over the course of five decades. The acclaimed work Historjá (2004–2007), which measures twenty-four meters, is to be included among the works on view in the exhibition. Originally commissioned by Romsa/Tromsö University, Historjá garnered a great deal of attention in connection with the Documenta 14 exhibition in Kassel 2017. Since her international breakthrough there, as well as in the main exhibition space at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, Britta Marakatt-Labba has attracted a lot of attention, and her work can now be found exhibited amongst a wide range of art institutions.

As part of the exhibition, a series of lectures and talks will be arranged based on the themes and questions found in Britta Marakatt-Labba’s work. The topics that will be included are, for example, how reindeer husbandry is affected by climate change and wind farms, as well as the impact of the mining industry on Sámi life.

The exhibition was first initiated by The National Museum, Oslo; where it was shown during the spring and summer of 2024, in collaboration with Kin Museum of Contemporary Art in Kiruna and Moderna museet in Stockholm. The edition of the exhibition, which travels to Kin, will be a revised version entitled “In the Footsteps of the Stars: The Embroidered Worlds of Britta Marakatt-Labba.”

Image: Lodderáidaras / The Milky Way