Transcript
Keviselie
First, I thought about making as a lithograph.
Liudmila
What is that?
Keviselie
Lithograph is you draw and paint, and so on, on stones and then print it. But there is a limit in the number you can print, so I thought that would be too exclusive. I wanted to have it spread out.
So I made then the map on the different originals, the plastic sheets that I have learned to know during my time as a drawing assistant, at an architect office here in Tulsa. So I knew that this was a very good material because it was opaque, and yet you could see through it, and you can also draw on it. And it resisted water and so on. So all my maps after then was made on this.
Then I went to the Norwegian cultural department and asked for a grant. And then they were very surprised that to see a map with no borders. And not only Norway, but Sweden, Finland, and part of Russia. So I think they were a bit skeptical. But I got a grant anyway. And then I printed 5,000 at Gröndahl, for colour print shop in Oslo. So I was present at the printing to make some adjustments.
Well, I have been told, and I believe it was a sensation in the Sápmi world. And also many non-Sápmi wanted to have this map. Yes. But I must also mention the year before, me and some others, Sápmi in Oslo and Bergen, we made the first Sápmi calendar. Ochta Sápmi joik 1904, 1975. But that we worked on it the year before, of course.
Liudmila
Which was also printed and distributed.
Keviselie
Yes, yes.
Liudmila
Wow. So it started with a calendar and then,
Keviselie
Then the map.
Liudmila
Then the map.
Keviselie
Yes.
Liudmila
But making the map, it’s so visual. It takes only two seconds to look at it. And we are so used to seeing established Western maps, where we see the borders of nation states. And just not seeing recognisable nation state is such a big message. And when you were attending the assembly, how did you present this map? How, what was the reaction?
Keviselie
The map was not yet printed.
Liudmila
No.
Keviselie
Because I was there. I think we left on November 1. But I had a blue copy of it, which I showed. And I have coloured it with coloured pencil. So many people were very impressed and interested in it. And I, of course, hope that other Indigenous people will do the same. And also at home in Sápmi, I thought that, by the way, the term Sápmi became relevant only after that.
Liudmila
Map.
Keviselie
Yeah. So this introduced the word Sápmi. Not many people are aware of that. At that time, it was called Sápmi with a B, but this was in '75. But the new orthography changed it to P after '79.
Liudmila
Ahh.
Keviselie
Yeah. So,
Liudmila
As a new foreigner coming to Norway and taking for granted so much, yes, Sápmi, this is the Sápmi area. But just several decades ago, it wasn't at all taken for granted.
Keviselie
No, it was called Sápmi Yanno, which means Sápmi land. In my view, it is a kind of a normalisation. So I asked some experts, isn't there a name because Sápmi looks like some translated from Norwegian, which it was. Yes, that is the word Sápmi. So then I used that one because it has three meanings. Sápmi means the language, the people, and the homeland of the Sápmi.