Art in the Sami Parliament

The Sami Parliament owns a number of different artworks, by both Sami and non-Sami artists. The artworks span all types of techniques, including traditional Sami duodji, sculptures and modern photography. The art in the Sami Parliament buildings addresses the Sami way of life and culture. The works have been acquired through gifts, purchases, and the Sami Parliament's art acquisition scheme. The Sami Parliament's procurement scheme for art aims to preserve public works of special artistic interest in Sami contemporary art and crafts, in addition to important reference works. Through the procurement scheme, the Sami Parliament has contributed to a collection of well over a thousand works, which is managed by RiddoDuottarMuseat and Samisk Kunstmagasin. Purchased works help to expand a Sami art collection and are hoped to be placed in a future Sami art museum. KORO (Art in public spaces) has worked with the Sami Parliament in decorating the Sami Parliament buildings. The walls in the passage leading to the plenary hall, are, among other things, decorated with Sami sayings in tin. The artist Kristin Ytreberg has used two elements from Sami culture, tin embroidery and proverbs. The proverbs were collected by the linguist Just Quigstad from Lyngen in the 19th century. One of the sayings says "riggás leat guokte bađa", which translated into Norwegian means that the rich have two back ends. Another says "Stuorra sátni saji ohcá" which means "Big or strong words seek space".