top of page

Vájaldibme - hiking

Mijá luotta - our tracks:   The sole of the foot is facing upwards. In the Sami pre-Christian faith there was Sájvvá, the realm of the dead. The realm of the dead is like this world but up and down maybe back and forth. No-one knows. The idea is that the bare feet should meet the soles of the feet of the visitors. It gives an intimacy and possibly a sense of another world. 

Tin is a material that has been used in both the Lule Sámi and South Sámi costumes. In the South Sámi area, pewter embroidery is used in both the breast cloth, the silver collar and the belt. To use tin is to connect to duodji - vaetnoe (Sami handicraft).

 

Almerabda - the horizon: The horizon is indefinable. It's front behind, now and then. There is something beyond the mountains that is inexplicable. I want it to be open and inexplicable. That the viewer may make his own interpretation. 

 

Máttarmuora: 15 tree trunks from the fire-ravaged area, Älvdalen's firing range. The Swedish Fortifications Agency's forest burned in the summer of 2019 and the forest was felled in the autumn. The trunks were in good condition. It was the roots that burned. In the past, wood could be fired to protect the resin from rot. Common when logs would lie against the ground. The wood used is old tough adult fura. 

 

I have been inspired by a drum made by my father, Lars Pirak. The drum was used by noajdde shamans during ceremonies in the pre-Christian religion. Dad made three drums in the late 1960s. They were exhibited on three different occasions and all three were stolen. So I bought back one of the drums. 

 

Something happened when I saw the drum. Its the back. Chopped, rough and very decorative. A memory came back. When we, my family and I were, to the mountains. How the men sat by the fireplaces with a stick in their hand and engraved. They tested different engravings, they engraved freehand to practice making a beautiful engraving. But the memory was also revived for how walking sticks were decorated. It was very common when I was a child that a walking stick was more than a walking stick. It was a way to pass the time when you paused during the hike and at the same time put your mark on the pole. 

I was also in New Zealand when the drum was bought. I saw the Maori fantastic wood carvings. It was straight lines and cape sticks. Just like the Sami engravings. They combine them in another way but the idea stuck in me. I think something would happen to see the Sami engraving large. Three of the trunks are to be engraved. I have made three sketches of engravings. When my brother got to see them, he said, it's very Lule Sámi. And I who have never engraved realize that I have a deep in-depth knowledge of hard handicraft that I was not aware I had. In some of the other trunks I will cast tin in. It is inspired by cast tin belts from the South Sami area. 

2019

Östersund, Mid Sweden University

Mija luotta: 23 x 10 cm 

Almerabda: 26 meters x 30 cm. 

Power wall: 15 logs diameter about 30 cm, 4 meters high. The engraving was done by my brother Mikael Pirak and his sons Kristoffer Unga Pirak and Isak Pirak. 

Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
Vájaldibme - Vandring
bottom of page