Britta Marakatt-Labba

Title: Luossa - The Lake That Was Emptied
Technique: Silkscreen
Edition: 150
Number of colours: 11
Paper: Arches Aquarelle, 356 g
Dimensions: 45.5 x 61 cm
Numbered and signed

Britta Marakatt-Labba: Lake Luossajärvi is located in Kiruna and was emptied when the ore was discovered. The lake was necessary for the Sami people, who kept reindeer herding in the area. During their migration, they stopped there and took a much-needed rest for animals and people. When the mine expanded, they had to give up their movement and give way to the mining company LKAB. Not only the Sami were affected, but the people of Kiruna also used the place as a recreation area. During the summer, people swam and spent time with their families. In the spring, they ice fish. Everything is now gone, and the place lives only in old photographs.

Britta Marakatt-Labba was born in 1951 and grew up in a reindeer herding family in the Saarivuoma Sámi village. She began her artistic career in 1979 after completing her studies at the School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg. Early on, she and other newly educated Sámi artists worked to build and establish a Sámi artists’ organisation. Her major international breakthrough came in 2017 when her twentyfour metres long embroidery Historja was shown at the contemporary art exhibition Documenta 14. For her art and artistic accomplishments, she has received several awards and cultural prizes, including the Illis Quorum (2017), the Stig Dagerman Prize (2019), and the Prince Eugen Medal (2020). Last year, she participated in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale.