JoLMA The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts

Journal | JoLMA
Journal issue | 5 | 1 | 2024
Research Article | Dáiddakárta

Dáiddakárta

Cartography in Contemporary Sápmi Art Practices

Abstract
This article explores contemporary art practices in Sápmi which utilise maps as a tool and medium. The importance of the artist Hans Ragnar Mathisen’s abundant maps from the mid-1970s is acknowledged, and furthermore the article looks into examples from the next generation Sámi artists who create dáiddakárta, which literally translates to art maps. Although not a traditional Sámi way of mapping and orientating in the landscape, dáiddakárt is significant in representing Indigenous people, in knowledge production, decolonial resistance, and reconciliation. Various dáiddakárta broaden the concept of what a ‘map’ has been, and could be, and contribute to the cartographic representations of other forms of being. Emphasising the concept of worlding helps understand mapping as a constant formation, relation and negotiation, and as a forceful and sometimes activist process, not only rendering or representing a world ‘already there’. Instead, the art maps serve as interpretative, aesthetic and even speculative actors in contemporary society.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Feb. 7, 2024 | Accepted: March 15, 2024 | Published July 26, 2024 | Language: en

Keywords Sámi ArtIndigenous cartographyWorldingCounter-mappingHans Ragnar Mathisen


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