Julia Rensberg

Julia Rensberg is participating in Sameslöjdsstiftelsen Sámi Doudji’s exhibition Duoji máttut – Vætnoen maadtoe – Duoje máddoinformation, which chronicles the creation of duodji and the relationship between this process and specific landscapes and contexts.

Julia Rensberg’s process takes its point of departure in her own lands, which are located in Southern Sámi territory, in the Sami village of Ruvhten Sijte in Härjedalen, and in Norrbotten, where she lives now. The land isn’t Rensberg’s to extract resources from–she is but one part of the structure through which she has inherited her relationship to specific places. When she searches for materials like horns and burls, she maintains her respect for nature and life, and never takes more than she needs in the moment. At Havremagasinet, Rensberg is showing a guksie (cup) and a naehpie (milking vessel).

Julia Rensberg is from the Southern Sámi Ruvthen Sijte, and grew up in Mora. Today, she lives and keeps a workshop outside of Jokkmokk. She studied at Samernas utbildningscentrum (the Sami education centre) between 2017 and 2019. She is involved in a broad set of issues related to the rights of indigenous peoples and climate justice.

The exhibition Duoji máttut – Vætnoen maadtoe – Duoje máddoinformation at Sameslöjdstiftelsen Sámi Duodji was produced in collaboration with Tomas Magnusson and Julia Rensberg. Here, the objects are shown along with accounts of the processes through which they are created, which largely revolve around making use of the materials nature provides and the knowledge required to shape them. The exhibition has been designed to communicate a knowledge that, although held by many in Sami society, is far less common in other groups.

Sameslöjdstiftelsen Sámi Duodji was founded in 1993 by Svenska Samernas Riksförbund and the Same Ätnam national organisation. They work all over Sweden, and prioritise finding the best ways to preserve duodji, as well as providing knowledge of and helping develop the Sami cultural heritage.