Tomas Colbengtson

Title: Rain-Eye (Regn-Öga / Ebrien-Tjelmie)
Year: 2024
Technique: Photogravure
Edition: 50
Number of colors: 3
Number of plates: 2
Paper: Hahnemuhle 350 gr copper printing paper
Image dimensions: 20.8 x 29.4 cm
Paper dimensions: 39 x 53 cm

In the raindrop, we see a Sarva, a male reindeer. Reindeer is central to Sami culture. Without the reindeer, Sami culture would not exist.

Signed and numbered. Edited by Galleri Helle Knudsen, printed at Atelje Larsen, Helsingborg.

Tomas Colbengtson is one of Sápmi's foremost artists. Born in 1957 and raised in the small Sami village of Björkvatnet in Tärnaby, which is located in the northernmost area of ​​the Southern Sami language, Colbengtson draws his artistic expression from memories, experiences and the current situation of the Sami people. His work highlights Sami history and the oppression that has afflicted the Indigenous Peoples. The state school influenced the youngest Sami and led to the almost extinction of the Southern Sami language in the Tärnaby area. Sami religion was banned, and the state carried out racial biological research, forced displacements and other repressive measures to exercise control over the indigenous population of Northern Calotte. At the same time, Colbengtson's work is about pride in the Sami heritage and the knowledge that has been passed down through the generations.