Britta Marakatt-Labba, Where every stitch breathes/Juokhe sákkaldat vuoigná

The exhibition "Where Every Stitch Breathes/Juohke säkkaldat vuoigná", includes around sixty of Britta Marakatt-Labba's works from 1968 to the present day. The title of the exhibition borrows from Britta Marakatt-Labba's own description of the work with the embroidered works: In the time-consuming work process, it is reflection and experience that imbue each new stitch with meaning and significance.

In the extensive embroidery "Historjá" (2003-2007), the scenes, which consist of hundreds of thousands of small stitches on linen, tell the story of the Sami people's existence, history and worldview. But also about resistance. By highlighting the Kautokeino Uprising of 1852, Britta Marakatt-Labba makes visible an event that is today considered an important turning point in the fight for Sami rights and political independence. In the spring of 2025, the art magazine ArtNews named "Historjá" one of the most important works of art of the century.

Britta Marakatt-Labba was born in 1951 in Idivuoma on the Swedish side of Sápmi and currently lives and works in Övre Soppero in Kiruna municipality. She grew up in a reindeer herding family with Northern Sami as her mother tongue and learned Swedish as her fourth language after Meänkieli and Norwegian. After studying at Sunderby Folk High School outside Luleå and the University of Design and Crafts (HDK) in Gothenburg, Marakatt-Labba returned to her homeland in the late 1970s.

Editor: Matilda Olof-Ors
Writers: Matilda Olof-Ors, Randi Grodø, Maria Lind, Hilde Hauan Johnsen, Gunvor Guttorm, Susanne Hætta, Anne Sommerin Simonnæs, Cato Lejon Myrnes, Sigbjørn Skåden.
Graphic form: Ateljé Grotesk
Translations: Thomas Andersson, Kari Utsi, Inger-marie Oskal, Kira Josefsson, Stig Oppedal
Number of pages: 304
Languages: Swedish, English, Northern Sami

ISBN:9789198813753
ISBN: 9783753308388