Tomas Colbengtson: Soejvene-Shadows

7.11 - 6.12 2025
Opening reception Friday, November 7, 5-7 PM

In Soejvene – South Sámi for shadows – Tomas Colbengtson explores memory, identity, and history through sculptures and images. Using photographs encased in glass and fragments of tradition, the past is interwoven with the present and opens toward possible futures.

Here, shadows become a metaphor for the erasure that followed colonial history: Sámi languages and religions that were banned, as well as objects and remains that were collected and displayed for public viewing. The void this created in Sámi lives and identity is still present today – but the questions of the right to one’s own history concern us all, regardless of background.

Tomas Colbengtson, born in 1957 in Björkvattnet, Tärnaby, works with materials such as glass, metal, wood, and hide. His art is rooted in the Sámi heritage and the collective memory, with a desire to restore and revitalise Sámi culture and language. Identity and loss become not only wounds, but also sources for retelling and reparation. Soejvene is Tomas Colbengtson’s second solo exhibition at Galleri Helle Knudsen. The gallery has also shown his works on two occasions in duo exhibitions with Britta Marakatt-Labba, as well as in solo presentations at the Market Art Fair in Stockholm and the Enter Art Fair in Copenhagen.

Tomas Colbengtson studied at Konstfack in Stockholm and Valand in Gothenburg. He is the initiator of the artist residency Sápmi Salasta for Indigenous artists and also the initiator and curator of Arctic Highway Indigenous Art, an exhibition that has toured North America in recent years. In 2024, he received the Queen Sonja Print Award – the world’s most prestigious prize for graphic art. He has exhibited in various parts of the world, and his works are included in collections such as the British Museum in London, the National Museum in Oslo, the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, as well as the Swedish and Norwegian Arts Councils.

Soejvene shadows, mixed media on polycarbonate, 40 x 65 cm, 2025