Sissel M. Bergh:
Ajmoejimh ajtoejimh

Translated into english this title means something in the direction of erased or faded. With «Ajmoejimh ajtoejimh» Bergh aims to map out the repressed South sami culture, pointing to names of sites in landscapes, archeological findings and stories from the coast of Møre, Trøndelag and adjacent areas. The project began in 2009 and is still in progress. During the exhibition period Bergh will be present in her exhibition adding findings from the last two years to her monumental hand drawn map titled Noerte Mïere Fuelhkie (2018 – ). The map measures 5,6 x 5,3 metres and it gives an outline of the county Nordmøre and parts of the geography of Trøndelag, containing detailed local annotations and glossary. The map is thus a visualizing aspect of the overall «Ajmoejimh ajtoejimh».

Berghs point of departure is that our history has been given as a part of establishing the new state of Norway after the separation from Denmark. Norway's almost three hundred years subject to Denmark has lead to a stronger marginalization of the Sami indigenous population’s traditional clothing, language and ways of living. When the first norwegian historian, Gerhard Schøning, wrote Norges Riigets Historie (The history of Norway) in 1751, he claimed that the Sami population had the same genealogy as the Samoyedic peoples from Siberia, that immigrated to Norway after the Norse population, and it therefore seemed unlikely that the Sami culture could have had any impact on the “Nordic” culture. This separation of Sami and Nordic culture has influenced the writing of history, according to Sissel M Bergh, even up to 2005 when the Story of Trøndelag (Trøndelags historie) was published.

Bergh will be continuing working on her project in the gallery space Wednesday the 5th, 12th and 19th of February.

Sissel Mutale Bergh (b. 1974) in an artist that investigatively works with different materials, techniques and methods. She is concerned about how the gaze is shaped by bodily experiences and knowledge. She makes installations, films, paintings, drawings and objects, as well as collaborative projects. Later in her career she has been focusing on the South sami languages inner logic as a tool to understand our vicinities landscape and to rewrite the stories about the past. Bergh has a degree from Trondheim Academy of Fine Art and from the University of Technology in Durban, South-Africa. She lives and works in Trondheim. In 2019 she was a part of GIBCA Gøteborg International Biennale for Contemporary Art and in 2020 she will be a part of Nirin, the 22. Biennale in Sydney. Her last major solo exhibition was “Okside rïhpesieh”(The doors open) at Sámi Dáiddáguovdas in Karasjok in 2018.