Máret Ánne Sara is Olsok Artist of the Year 2023!

We are proud to finally be able to announce that Máret Ánne Sara is the Olsok artist of the year 2023!

Máret Ánne Sara is one of Saepmie's and Norway's leading artists

Máret Ánne Sara is one of Saepmie's and Norway's foremost artists, and in recent years has had a number of exhibitions at home and abroad. She comes from a reindeer herding family in Kautokeino and has distinguished herself through her strong community involvement and her focus on political and social themes in her art. She is also the initiator of the Sami artist collective Dáiddadállu. Through her works, Sara shines a spotlight on the ever-burning battle for indigenous rights and against colonialisation. Perhaps the most famous is Pile o'Sápmi, created as a protest against and a symbol of the state's forced slaughter of reindeer. The work has, among other things, been shown in front of the Storting and now hangs as the main work in the reception area of ​​the new National Museum. In 2022, Máret Ánne Sara was one of three selected artists when the Nordic pavilion was transformed into the Sami pavilion during the Venice Biennale.

The Olsok exhibition and the Olsok artist of the year are a central part of the cultural festival Olsokdagene. Art has always been an important part of the olive heritage. At the same time, art has a central role in society as expression and a democratic pillar. In the work to further develop Stiklestad as a relevant and powerful symbolic place also for our own time, the Olsok exhibition therefore plays a central role.

The theme for Olsokdagene 2023 is POWER

The choice of Olsok artist is also influenced by the festival's theme. The theme for Olsokdagene 2023 is POWER. The topic has been chosen for two main reasons. The first is our work with the National Jubilee 2030. A central part of this is a jubilee relay leading up to 2030 that involves the whole country and where each year has its own theme. The theme for 2023 is RESOURCES AND WEALTH, and POWER is SNK's interpretation of that. Furthermore, Museene Arven's overall ambition is to contribute to a viable democracy. Social sustainability is therefore very central to our work. POWER is a word that opens up many different conversations. "We are therefore looking forward to exploring the concept of POWER in the past, present and future during this year's festival, including through the Olsok exhibition, says Ingegerd Eggen, museum manager at Stiklestad National Cultural Centre.

Máret Ánne Sara herself says the following about her role as Olsok Artist of the Year:

"Power is a very charged word here at Stiklestad. Not only in a historical context, but also considering that we are in Sør Sápmi, a stone's throw away from Fosen and the huge illegal, state-owned wind industry plant that daily grinds to pieces the principles of democracy in this country and blows us further and further away from a rule of law based on human rights and trust. I look on with admiration when Stiklestad National Cultural Center chooses themes as they have and invites me as a Sami artist to front a conflict of opinion locally. They simply put themselves in the driver's seat in order to take up a topical, inflamed and aching social debate which from the Sami perspective is extremely precarious, but which also per the matter's principled status today, affects the majority community just as seriously. I look forward to working in this part of Sápmi, which needs all the help it can get, and I look forward to working together with such a pioneering and courageous institution as Stiklestad National Cultural Centre."

Visualizing the diversity in the stories about Norway

"Our involvement in the Fosen case is about human rights, not about the general question of 'for or against wind power'. A unanimous judgment from the Supreme Court on 11 October 2021 states that the Norwegian state violated its obligations under international law towards the Sami population when a license was granted to the wind power plants at Fosen. The judgment has not yet had any consequences Norwegian Institution for Human Rights describes the situation as an ongoing violation of human rights. As a museum whose aim is to make visible the diversity of the narratives about Norway and which works from the vision of contributing to a viable democracy, it is important for Museene Arven and Stiklestad National Cultural Center to help shed light on the Fosen case from an indigenous perspective. and human rights perspective. We are therefore enormously grateful that Máret Ánne Sara has agreed to be Olsok Artist of the Year. Few have shown the power that lies in art as expression like her. Her voice is heard, it confronts and: it is needed. We feel confident that this year's Olsok exhibition will touch and engage many people," concludes Øvergård Beistad.

The Olsok exhibition 2023 opens at Stiklestad on 25 July and will run until September.

“What if, Jonas?” by Máret Ánne Sara

"State on steroids 2023" by Máret Ánne Sara