Craft is often thought to be harmless and passive, associated with women’s work, domestic labour, the everyday, indigenous peoples, minorities and hobbyists. But such stereotypes must be challenged and rethought. Craft can also be a tool for critique, protest and subversion.
Materials, tradition, knowledge and innovation are the core of craft. Working methods have changed with new technology, but we always return to the tangible. Perhaps it is precisely this that makes craft so relevant today? Are the creative traditions and practices that have so often been excluded from art history the counterweight we need to climate crisis, mass production, consumerism and endless economic growth?
This exhibition of craft and duodji is drawn primarily from Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum’s collection, with a special focus on northern and Sámi artists. Two artists have been invited participate: Marit Landsend with her work The Innocents, and Silje Figenschou Thoresen and her installation Standing/Hanging Work. Both work with nature, environment and the unexpected in different but very interesting ways.
Image gallery
