A Place I’d Like To Go

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Hi friends! Today I’m bringing you something a little different. Since the Nuuna S is so small, I feel like it’s much easier for me to just take a break from the weeklies to do something completely different on a spread and then going straight back to the next week. Yesterday was my birthday, and I was thinking about all the places I’d like to see before I die. One of those places is a big area actually, called Sápmi.

Sápmi is the area belonging to the Samí people, the indigenous peoples of Fennoscandinavia. Like most indigenous peoples, they have been prosecuted, abused, and attempted extinct by the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Russian nation states.

One of the reasons I really want to visit Sápmi is because after entering university, I started learning more about indigenous struggles and world views. I think we all can learn many valuable lessons from indigenous cultures, and I wish for a world that sees the way they do. The Sámi live WITH Mother Earth, not OFF OF it. Anyway, I won’t get too deep into the politics of it, because this would turn into a thesis.

I’m in love with the snow clad landscapes of the north. I want to see reindeer and lavvus. I want to learn how to make tools out of bones, and listen to the Sámi drums. I want to hear their stories, if they’ll let me.

And so I made this spread in my journal. I printed some pictures out, drew a nice banner, and colored some details with some Tombow Dual Brush Pens.

I still have so much to learn about the Sámi, and I’m not knowledgeable to know exactly which area these pictures are from, but I find them so beautiful. The Sámi traditional clothing is so bright and colorful, and the snow makes it pop even more!

Recently I’ve been thinking about which language I would like to learn next, and more and more I’m leaning towards a Sámi language. There are so many of them, so I have yet to decide which one to attempt to learn, but I did include a Sámi phrase in my spread, in the blue box. It says “one language is never enough” in North Sámi. I couldn’t agree more.

I’m really happy with this spread, I think it turned out quite nice and colorful. I was able to include a short list of places I would like to visit, as well as things to do in Sápmi, such as the Riddu Riddu music festival.

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If you’re interested in Sámi activism and music, I can recommend this TEDtalk by Sofia Jannok. You can also find her music on iTunes and YouTube. I can also really recommend the movie Sameblod (Sámi Blood) by Swedish Sámi Amanda Kernell. In general, I recommend getting familiar with indigenous struggles, in other countries as well as in your own.