Museum of Contemporary Circumpolar Art (MCCA)

Johtin II is a round cotton canva, ø60cm. It is painted with thin layers of acrylics,making the colors blend in nicely with each other and which gives the effect of watercolors. The detailed patterns and the reindeers on the painting are made with acrylic pens which gives more control rather than working with briushes. This painting belongs to a larger collection that has been going on for several years. They all have the colorful circle as the base and are filled with reindeers, other aimals and patterns traditional to the sami handicraft. I started the first one in 2014 and has since made an uncountable number on different materials, from wood to canvas. JohtinII belongs specifically into a collection which are made from round canvas with 60 cm dia. The round pattern originated from the circular way of living of the Sami people. Rather than seeing the timeline as linear we see it circular, and we have constructed our life after the circular way of thinking. The reindeers move in a circle, where they go from one grazeland to another and back of again, in a circle. We have followed the reindeer for a long time and the different aspects and places of the year comes with different work and different mindset, from resting during the coldest months of the year to have a few short months of snow-free ground to prepare for the winter again. A lot of things in the lives of Sami are circular. Not only time and life itself, but also in the handicraft. Being nomadic people meant to have practical belongings. As an example, the coffinns [containers] which held all our belongingswere shaped round so it would fit better into the sleds that the reindeer dragged. The cups and other things which you carried in your rucksack were made all round, so it woildn't hurt your back. The tent, låvvu, had a round ground, so people could sit, eat and sleep in a circle, to keep the warmth. As a reminder of the way of living I have made these round collection of paintings and I always think about the saying of Johan Turi, who wrote the first sami book Muitalus samiid birra ("An Account of the Sami") where he explains of the mindset where he tells that inside a room with four corners he cannot think freely and explain his life to the fullest understanding. But when on a mountain and he can feel the free wind, then he can think and explain his life the best. Inga-Wiktoria Påve, 2021-06-27, Kiruna, Sweden