Finnmark is more than just a geographical area. Living in or being from Finnmark represents a mental state, an individual diversity, a natural attitude of resistance, improvisation, resignation, optimism, ambivalence, and at the same time different types of love for the place that has borne us and that continues to nourish us. Place and nature shape people as much as it is true for the other way around. The particular fascination for Finnmark and the strong identity formation based on place affiliation that the Finnmark people hold, encouraged Susanne Hætta and Johan Sara jr. to explore this topic. Together, they have created a holistic visual art narrative at Hammerfest Kunstforening, complemented by an immersive sound installation. Hætta and Sara both come from Alta, but live in Vadsø and Máze.
The title KOR vi bor (meaning both WHERE we live, and CHOIR where we live), emerges from the expression that acknowledges the unpredictable climatic and geographical conditions that we live with here, for example when it snows in June, one can say: - “We know where we live”. The artists have traveled around Finnmark for several years, and have gathered the Finnmark people’s
stories, voices and places into both sound and visual art in many forms; installation, painting, photo collage and linocut printing. A choir with vastly different voices and languages begins to sing together, united by the same melody.
The project started with Susanne Hætta several years ago when she recognised the absence of recent stories and art based on the Finnmark people’s lives and experiences. When the county merger between Troms and Finnmark came to be, the discussions gained momentum and people’s awareness increased around this topic. Paradoxically, this entire Finnmark project has been created while Finnmark has been merged with Troms into one uniform county, while at the opening
of the exhibition of KOR vi bor, the “divorce” is already underway.
Later in 2022, Hætta will publish the “Finnmarkings’ stories” in book form and Johan Sara jr. will release a CD of his music, spring 2023. Both works are grounded in the conversations with all of the people in Finnmark they encountered and the impressions that the artists felt on their journeys through the county.
