Tomas Colbengtson at Tomelilla Konsthall

For the first time ever, Tomelilla Konsthall is showing an exhibition created by a Sami artist. The exhibition consists of sculptures, montages, installations, and video works revolving around the themes of memories, places, identity, and history.

In his art, Tomas Colbengtson explores what has been and what can be. Many of his works rest on shards from the past that have been collected and reshaped into statements about an actual or potential present. A possible future. History, in the form of photographs encapsulated in glass, gives echoes of past times and past life experiences in the present. A blue/white road sign with the text Sapmí, placed far outside the area that the Sami have always inhabited, constitutes an interesting comment on a colonial history that is not so far back in time.

The exhibition Soejvene comments on the colonial history where the collection of Sami cultural objects, even Sami remains, was exposed to the public. We still carry this part of our shared history, where the language and religion that were forbidden have created a void in the identity and life of the Sami. Questions about the right to one's own history concern all people regardless of where they come from.

Tomas Colbengtson was born in 1957 in Björkvattnet, Tärnaby. He has studied at the Art School Idun Lovén, Konstfack, and Valand Art School and has been a professional artist since 1991. He is also one of the initiators of the artist residency Sápmi salasta residence. A residency for indigenous artists.

>> More info about the exhibition at Tomelilla Art Hall
>> Upcoming exhibition at Galleri Helle Knudsen