Exhibition: Britta Marakatt-Labba

For the very first time, an exhibition of Marakatt-Labba’s works on paper is being shown! Over the past decade, Britta Marakatt-Labba has achieved an extraordinary breakthrough. Her embroidered narratives connect the underworld, the upper world and the ground we walk on, in keeping with the worldview of Sámi mythology. With needle and thread, she brings together the historical and the symbolic, transforming it all into a breathtaking odyssey. Her subjects revolve around Sámi life close to nature, but also colonialism, loss and resistance—racism’s face, human greed and the animals’ lost grazing lands.

Britta Marakatt-Labba is internationally known for her outstanding embroidery. Among her most famous works is the 24-metre-long panoramic embroidery Historjá (2003–2007), which depicts Sámi life, history and worldview in tiny stitches on linen. By contrast, Marakatt-Labba’s drawings and watercolours are almost unknown; until now, she has kept these works from public view. These delicate, sometimes spontaneous and always evocative images, created largely without any intention of showing them to the public, are thematically close to the embroideries. Similar subjects recur in the works on paper, but with a more intimate expression. Here, we follow the development of her artistic visual language and the emergence of different aesthetic ideas.

The exhibition at Nordiska Akvarellmuseet focuses on Britta Marakatt-Labba’s works on paper, shown for the first time. It also opens up several perspectives on the artist’s creative practice. The exhibition includes around 140 works, mainly watercolours, drawings and sketches, complemented by a selection of embroidery and prints.

About the artist
Britta Marakatt-Labba was born in 1951 in Idivuoma, Sápmi. She grew up in a reindeer-herding family, with Northern Sámi as her mother tongue. After studying at Sunderby folkhögskola outside Luleå and the School of Design and Crafts (HDK) in Gothenburg, she returned to her home region in the late 1970s. In 1978, she was one of the founders of the Masi Group and helped establish a Sámi artists’ organisation. During the 1980s, Britta Marakatt-Labba took part in the Alta protests, which she later depicted in the well-known work “Kråkorna” (The Crows, 1981).

Since the 1980s, Britta Marakatt-Labba’s art has been held in public and regional collections in the Nordic countries. Her international breakthrough came in 2017, when her 24-metre-long embroidery Historjá (2003–2007) was shown at documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany. Since then, her art has attracted considerable international interest and been exhibited around the world. Today, she lives and works in Övre Soppero.

NORDISKA AKVARELLMUSEET OPENING HOURS: Tuesday–Sunday, 11:00–16:00 (closed Mondays). Opening hours may vary in connection with programme events. The latest information is available on the website.

Image: Britta Marakatt-Labba, Proposal for a lithograph, commission from Konstfrämjandet (detail), 1990–1992 © Britta Marakatt-Labba / Bildupphovsrätt 2026