At the National Museum in Oslo, which exhibited her large retrospective for the first time, she walked through the exhibition once.
I thought, "oh, some periods have been tough, I don't want to see this". I thought "have I done all this, all the stitches, over 40-50 years?" Now I get to go through it again, she says.
Britta Marakatt-Labba has always wanted to increase knowledge about the Sami, but her own life's work in itself does not evoke a sense of pride, she explains, it's the reactions from the viewers that can do that.
There are so many prejudices in the world against what you don't know. But if those who come here take with them a little bit of our culture and become interested - then I become proud.
Magnificence
The exhibition is called "In the Footsteps of the Stars", but it's also a brand new commissioned work that she has embroidered specifically for the Kin museum in Kiruna. It depicts a woman driving a reindeer sled under the stars, surrounded by small figures embedded in Sami textiles - ranor. The image exudes safety and magnificence and is inspired by a time when the Sami navigated by the stars.
You didn't have GPS, says Britta Marakatt-Labba, whose family has followed their reindeer to the Norwegian part of Sapmí.
The central work of the exhibition is, however, the 24-meter-long embroidered tapestry "Historjá" which is shown for the first time as intended - in a circle, on the walls of a stylized kåta. The tapestry was her international breakthrough at Documenta in Kassel in 2017, when the Swedish art scene also discovered her. Here, Sami history and mythology are depicted, as well as the uprising in northern Norway in 1852, after which two Sami were beheaded.
It's exactly 170 years ago now, this weekend they had a memorial service in Alta. It's not many years since their remains were allowed to return there, now they are buried there and it was very nice and dignified, she says.
"Artist's Duty"
At the Book Fair in Gothenburg, she participated in the Sami theme section, but not in the criticized seminar where some described the Sami as a "privileged minority".
It drags you down. But it's an artist's duty to work on. We should work on and show how what we have can contribute something to others, not least how we take care of natural resources and other things.
Now she hopes that people from her hometown Idivuoma visit Kin.
They might not usually go to art exhibitions. I want them to see that it's not that remarkable.
Born: 1951.
Lives: In Badje-Sohppar (Övre Sopporo).
Family: Married to reindeer herder Johannes Labba, son John-Isak.
Current: With the exhibition "In the Footsteps of the Stars" which opens at the Kin museum for contemporary art in Kiruna on October 23 and in a revised version at the Modern Museum in Stockholm on May 17, 2025. In Kiruna, the exhibition includes around 80 works created from the 1960s onwards.
Has also made this year's version of the pink ribbon, which is sold by the Cancer Foundation to benefit cancer research.
Occupation: Embroidering textile artist. Has also made watercolors, collages, and sculptures.
