Visual Encounters with the Sámi: Imagining the Sámi During the Long Nineteenth Century

SummaryIn this article, I argue that the historical image of the Sámi people has not been thoroughly explored in visual culture. By providing a case study examining the motif of the encounter – where Sámi are portrayed with non-Sámi groups – I aim to identify overarching themes of how the Sámi were presented in Nordic visual culture. The study, based on a framework of image studies and the concept of the other, is a result of a survey of all visual art featuring Sámi imagery during the long nineteenth century at Nationalmuseum, Sweden. In the museum’s collection, sixteen works with seven artists portrayed the encounter. These works are displaying themes of the Sámi as exotified décor of a romanticised north, and that of the Sámi as being in confrontation with civilisation. The latter could be split into thematic subcategories of religion, social critique, and racial- and colonial ideology.