Synnøve Persen (born 22 February 1950) is a Norwegian Sámi artist, author, and activist who has played an influential role in bringing Sámi identity to contemporary art. She has been twice nominated for the

Nordic Council Literature Prize The Nordic Council Literature Prize is awarded for a work of literature written in one of the languages of the Nordic countries, that meets "high literary and artistic standards". Established in 1962, the prize is awarded every year, and is worth ...

for the Sami language area for her poetry.

Early life and student activism

Persen was born in Beavgohpis in Porsáŋggu Municipality in

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

county, Norway. She finished gymnasium in Atla, before moving to Oslo for university. Persen began her arts education in the 1970s, first at the Einar Granum Drawing and Painting School in Oslo, before heading to the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art and graduating in 1978 from the

Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts The Norwegian National Academy of Arts () was a former Norwegian tertiary institution in Oslo, offering studies in the area of fine art. Along with four other academies, it merged to form the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (, KHiO) in 1996. ...

in Oslo. As a student, Persen was involved in growing Sámi activism during the Alta conflict and participated in the and was a voice of the ČSV political-artistic movement. As student project, Persen drafted in 1977 a flag to represent the Sámi people across Scandinavia. It was quickly adopted as a symbol by protesters across Norway, becoming the first, albeit unofficial,

Sámi flag The Sámi flag is the flag of Sápmi and the Sámi people, one of the Indigenous people groups of the Nordic countries and the Kola Peninsula of the Russian Federation. First Sámi flag The first, unofficial Sámi flag was designed by Sam ...

Promotion of Sámi art

Throughout her life, Persen has worked to strengthen Sámi identity and contemporary Sámi art. In 1978, she was one of the eight founding members of the Máze Group (Mázejoavku), also known as the Sámi Dáidujoavku (Sámi Artist Group), which sought to define and carve out a space for Sámi identity and culture as part of contemporary art. After the Máze Group disbanded in 1983, Persen worked as a consultant helping to identify and purchase Sámi art for the Sámi museum in

Kárášjohka Karasjok is a Norwegianized version of the Northern Sami name Kárášjohka. Either one may refer to the following places: * Karasjok Municipality or , a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Karasjok (village) or , a village in Karasjok Muni ...

, the

Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum is a Norway, Norwegian visual arts museum in Northern Norway. The Northern Norwegian Museum of Art is responsible for the entire northern region and in 2010 established a separate department for the nationwide program. Histo ...

art museum in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, the Sámi cultural center in

Aarborte Hattfjelldal may refer to: Places * Hattfjelldal Municipality, a municipality in Nordland county, Norway * Hattfjelldal (village), a village within Hattfjelldal Municipality in Nordland county, Norway * Hattfjelldal Church, a church in Hattfjelldal ...

, and the Sámi Art Collection held by the . During the same period, she led development of the arts curricula for the Sami Arts and Crafts College. From 1997–2001, Persen was a member of the

Arts Council Norway The Arts Council Norway (, often shortened to ''Kulturrådet'') is the official arts council for Norway. Based in Oslo, it is a Norwegian state institution created in as a result of a parliamentary decision in 1964. Arts Council Norway's admini ...

, and she has served on various committees and councils, including the Sami Olympic Committee. Persen was central to the development of the , which was founded by the Mázejoavku, and the Sámi Dáiddaguovddáš arts center.

Artist and poet

As a painter and a poet, Pedersen uses the

Sápmi is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, boun ...

landscape of northern Norway as a metaphor to represent her native culture. She has said the natural landscape inspires her to tell her story. Her work has been displayed in numerous group and solo exhibitions across Norway and abroad. Public art pieces have been commissioned for several schools and public buildings, including the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...

and

NRK Sápmi NRK Sápmi (previously, and with the radio station often still referred to as NRK Sámi Radio) is a unit of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) that streams news and other programs in the Sámi languages for broadcast to the Sami people ...

. In 1993, her poetry collection (Windless Path) was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for the Sámi language area. She earned a second nomination in 2008 for (Tales Spring up from Nature's Rush), another collection of poems, which previously won the

Saami Council Literature Prize The Saami Council Literature Prize (, and ) is a literary prize for Saami literature first awarded by the Saami Council in 1994. At first, the prize was awarded annually, although starting in 2003, it has been awarded roughly once every two years ...

in 2006. In 2000, she won the Biret Elle Memorial Prize and in 2018 was named a Commander in the Order of St. Olaf. In November 2020, her exposition "" (Sacred Sites) opened at the , running until February 2021.

Poetry collections

* (Blue Birds Fly), 1981 in Northern Sámi * (Windless Path), 1992 in Northern Sámi * (Windless Path), 1992 in Norwegian (translation by author) * (The Ocean's Mother), 1994 in Northern Sámi * (The Ocean's Mother), 1994 in Norwegian (translation by author) * (Tales Spring up from Nature's Rush), 2005 in Northern Sámi * (Tales Spring up from Nature's Rush), 2006 in Norwegian (translation by author) * ''/Artic Light'', 2007 with Alf Nilsen Børsskog, Almar Paulsen, and Anstein Mikkelsen * ''/'' (Under Green Ring Wandering), 2017 with Erling Kittelsen Persen also published in 2000 (), a biography of Sámi artist Jon Ole Andersen, co-written with Bente Geving.

Awards and recognitions

Persen was awarded Arts Council Norway Honorary Award 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Persen, Synnove 1950 births Living people People from Porsanger Sámi artists Norwegian Sámi-language writers 20th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian artists 21st-century Norwegian poets Norwegian women poets 20th-century Norwegian women writers 21st-century Norwegian women writers Norwegian Sámi writers Sámi women writers