John Savio – Hásttuheaddjin: Voice of Resistance

The Sámi artist John Savio (1902–1938) has long been viewed through the lens of the majority culture, and has consequently been relegated to the margins of art history. John Savio – Hásttuheaddjin: Voice of Resistance approaches his work for the first time from a perspective grounded in specifically Sámi knowledge systems and lifeworlds. In doing so, his practice emerges on its own terms: as a driving force that not only carries forward but renews modernism, with a quiet yet penetrating critique of the colonial structures that shaped Sámi life both in his own time and beyond.
At a moment when Indigenous artists around the world are challenging established notions of representation and knowledge, Savio’s voice resonates with particular force, as the texts in this volume demonstrate. They are written by the exhibition’s curator Liisa-Ravna Finnbog and by Harald Gaski, Elin Anna Labba Magga, Liv Astrid Svaleng, Wanda Nanibush, Kathrine Nedrejord and Sigbjørn Skåden, and include an interview with the visual artist Outi Pieski. Taken together, the texts and the richly illustrated material in this book show why Savio represents a vital chapter in the new, more polyphonic art history that is currently being written.