In the exhibition “We are still here” you can see works from Lena Stenberg, Tomas Colbengtson, Anders Sunna and Antonie Grahamsdaughter, the common thread being indigenous people and racism.
“Shoot all the notes. Here with the reindeer meat”, that’s what Kerstin Andersson heard when she was a teenager. Now she sees a new generation growing up with threats and hatred.
– School children in Kiruna demanded that they avoid riding the school bus with the “Lappungarna”, said Kerstin Andersson in her opening speech, where she also referred to the Crime Prevention Council’s latest report, which among other things deals with hate crimes against the Sami.
– BRÅ writes that hate crimes can increase when Sami rights are recognized, says Andersson, who is also involved in Amnesty Sápmi.
“We are not stereotypes”
The curator of the exhibition is Antonie Grahamsdaughter, who also exhibits as an artist herself. Her own family from the Canadian indigenous population can be seen among the works.
– With these pictures, I want to show that we are completely ordinary people, we are not stereotypes. The image that many people have is exotifying, says Antonie Grahamsdaughter.
The artist has previously been involved in the Frölunda HC club emblem, the association that previously called itself the Frölunda Indians.
– Frölunda hockey changed its logo, but the Indians speedway still sticks to its horribly racist stereotype.
“Gets completely desperate”
The artist is also critical of a funfair that she believes portrays the North American indigenous population in a problematic light.
– There are also very sexualized images, I get completely desperate when I see it considering how vulnerable indigenous women are in North America, says Antonie Grahamsdaughter.
The exhibition at Galleri tegen in Stockholm will hang until May 25.