Börje Karl Anders Sunna (born 11 April 1985) is a Swedish

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

artist known for incorporating a strong political point of view into his artwork. Sunna was born in the

Jukkasjärvi Jukkasjärvi (; Sami: ''Čohkkiras'') is a locality situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 548 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated at 321 meters elevation. The name is of Northern Sami origin, where ''Čohkkirasjávri'' ...

parish of

Kiruna (; ; ; ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norrbotten County. The c ...

Norrbotten County Norrbotten County (, Meänkieli/, ) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He grew up in a

reindeer herding Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

family in near the border of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and was educated at Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå and the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. Nowadays he lives in

Jokkmokk Jokkmokk () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Jokkmokk Municipality in Norrbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland, Sweden, with 2,786 inhabitants in 2010. The Lule Sámi name of the place (compos ...

, Sweden. Sunna's art is political, often focusing on

Sámi history Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise n ...

and his family's long-standing conflict with the county administrative board's reindeer husbandry delegation. In his work, Sunna uses thick layers of color, graffiti techniques, collage, and prints with motifs depicting oppression of the Sámi, including forced relocations and photographs from the Swedish

State Institute for Racial Biology The State Institute for Racial Biology (SIRB, ) was a Swedish governmental research institute founded in 1922 with the stated purpose of studying eugenics and human genetics. It was the most prominent institution for the study of "racial scienc ...

. In 2013, Sunna drew criticism from some Sámi for his use of the

Sámi flag The Sámi flag is the flag of Sápmi and the Sámi people, one of the Indigenous people groups of the Nordic countries and the Kola Peninsula of the Russian Federation. First Sámi flag The first, unofficial Sámi flag was designed by Sam ...

as a canvas for a graffiti-style painting of a skull-faced Sámi man holding an

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

. In addition to painting, Sunna works with larger installations. In some exhibitions, he collaborates with the artist and photographer Michiel Brouwer. Sunna co-directed with Inga-Wiktoria Påve the 2017 animated short film (''Wake Up Elena Wake Up!''), which won the Jane Glassco Award for Emerging Talent at the 2017

imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and Best Indigenous Short Film award at the 2018 in Finland. Some of Sunna's art is on public display at the Gällivare District courthouse, after being purchased by the in 2015. Sunna is one of the artists representing

Sápmi is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, boun ...

in the Nordic pavilion during the 2022

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

Selected exhibitions

A partial list of solo and group exhibitions featuring Sunna's work. * Sámi Pavilion,

59th Venice Biennale The 59th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between April and November 2022, having been delayed a year due to the COVID pandemic. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic directo ...

, Venice, Italy — 2022 * ''Varje löv är ett öga'' with Michiel Brouwer,

Göteborgs Konsthall Göteborgs Konsthall is a contemporary art gallery, contemporary art Kunsthalle, exhibition hall in Gothenburg, Sweden. Description Göteborgs Konsthall exhibits both Swedish and international art. It is situated in a Classicism, classicist bui ...

, Gothenburg, Sweden — 2019–2020 * ''Modernautställningen'',

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened Moderna Museet Malmö in Malmö. History The museum opened in Stockh ...

, Stockholm, Sweden — 2018 * ''Maadtoe'' with Michiel Brouwer, , Kristinehamn, Sweden — 2016–2017 *
SAAMELAISTA nykytaidetta = Dálá SÁMI dáidda = SÁMI Contemporary
' travelling exhibition, 7 March 2014 – 27 September 2015 ** , Korundi, Finland — 7 March – 25 May 2014 ** Norrbottens Museum, Luleå, Sweden — 18 June – 24 August 2014 ** , Karasjok, Norway — 14 November 2014 – 4 January 2015 ** Felleshus, Berlin, Germany — 9 July – 27 September 2015 * ''Area Infected'',

Bildmuseet Bildmuseet () is a contemporary art museum in Umeå, northern Sweden. History The museum was founded in 1981 by Umeå University and it exhibits Swedish and international contemporary art, visual culture, design, and architecture, sometimes alo ...

, Umeå, Sweden — 2014 *

Institut Tessin The Institut Tessin, also known as the Centre culturel suédois, is a museum in Paris dedicated to the history of Franco-Swedish artistic exchanges. It is located in the Hôtel de Marle at 11, rue Payenne in the city's 3rd arrondissement of Paris, ...

, Paris, France — 2014 * ''Greetings from Sápmi'',

Jamtli Jamtli is the name of the regional open air museum of Jämtland and Härjedalen in Östersund, Sweden. It consists of an open-air museum with historical buildings, and an indoor museum with both permanent and temporary exhibitions. “Jamtli” ...

, Östersund, Sweden — 2013 * Norrbottens Ambassad för Konst, Stockholm, Sweden — 2013 *

Liljevalchs konsthall Liljevalchs konsthall () is a kunsthalle art venue located on Djurgården island in Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by architect Carl Bergsten (1879–1935) and inaugurated in March 1916, it is today owned by the City of Stockholm. Behind the ent ...

, Stockholm, Sweden — 2012

References

External links

Official site

ArtFacts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunna, Anders 1985 births Living people Sámi artists Sámi activists 21st-century Swedish artists Swedish Sámi people Swedish collage artists People from Jukkasjärvi