Tomas Colbengtson

Title: Stålfjäll, flooded village, 1963
Technique: Mixed media on polycarbonate
Year: 2026
Image dimensions: 29 x 55.5 cm
Other: The work is part of the exhibition Our Stories, on view at the gallery until December 5, 2026. If purchased, the work can be collected / shipped only after the exhibition closes. 

The village of Stålfjäll in Tärna was flooded in connection with the expansion of hydroelectric power in 1963. What was once a vibrant place now lies beneath the water in Lake Ajaure, created by Vattenfall. The work carries the memory of a landscape that changed and a place that disappeared.

Tomas Colbengtson (b. 1957, Björkvattnet, Tärnaby) works with memory, history, and questions of repatriation and decolonization. His art is rooted in his own experiences and in traditional Sámi crafts, where knowledge and stories have been passed down through generations. The crafts carry experiences of a life close to nature and an understanding of humanity’s dependence on and interaction with its surroundings.