Ingrid Becker, Marianne Broch, Cecilie Haaland, Aslaug Juliussen, Fedosya Semenovna Kauts, Gabriel Johan Kvendseth, Inger Anne Nyaas, Aleksei Ogorodnik, Solveig Ovanger, Outi Pieski, Anastasia Aristarhovna Pomyleva, Sergei Schemetov, Philipp Spillmann, Alexander Sverchkov, Martin and Anisia Fedotovich Taibarey, Viktoriya Vilka.
I Craft, I Travel Light takes inspiration from Sami culture and the culture of other indigenous peoples in the northern regions, their rich traditions and knowledge, together with their skills in utilising local resources. The artwork is based on natural materials from the Barents region, such as birch bark, fish skin, reindeer antler or recycled materials that have been found.
The title refers to a subjective understanding of handicraft, together with a fusion of the lifestyles and cultures of nomads.
I Craft, I Travel Light also supports the value of environmental protection, the use of local and sustainable resources and a nomadic life that adapts over time to the environment. Handicraft from these northern areas displays both tradition, development and the renewal of techniques and expression. In this exhibition the curators wish to draw attention to a rich aesthetic tradition, to actualise and strengthen the identity of handicraft and to increase its status in modern discourse. They wish to underline interpersonal meetings and preserve cultural inheritance, handicraft and silent knowledge.
The exhibition contributes to an increased knowledge about the northern areas, where traditional lifestyles are threatened by the impact of modern society. The I Craft, I Travel exhibition encompasses the current discourse about the ownership of sea and land areas and the way nomadic cultures relate to national states and borders. Physical, political and economic conditions are important in defining what we take with us into the future and which cultures will succeed.
The exhibition shows the handicraft and artwork of Sami, Nenet, Russian and Norwegian artists. They tour between art museums in Archangel, Murmansk, Tromsø and Karasjok. Now the exhibition is at the Sami Centre for Contemporary Art in Karasjok until February 2018.
I Craft, I Travel Light is produced by The Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts-Northern Norway in collaboration with Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum. It is the 2017 thematic exhibition of The Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts, curated by Sigrid Høyforsslett Bjørkbæk and Charis Gulliksen.
A comprehensive book of articles, artwork and project workshops from the exhibition has also been published.
The project is supported by The Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts, The Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts-North Norway, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum, BarentsKult, the Arts Council of Norway and Fritt Ord.
Read more:
http://icraftitravellight.com/about
http://www.nnkm.no/nb/exhibitions/i-craft-i-travel-light
http://norskekunsthandverkere.no/aktuelt/i-craft-i-travel-light-til-tromso
