Anchorage Museum
  • Visit
    • Calendar
    • Hours & Tickets
    • Access
    • Parking
    • Tours
    • The Museum From Home
    • Discovery Center
    • Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center
    • Planetarium
    • Museum Store
    • Tour Operators
    • MUSE
    • Museum Rentals
    • Tell Us About Your Visit
  • Exhibitions
    • Upcoming Exhibitions
    • Current Exhibitions
    • Permanent Exhibitions
    • Archived Exhibitions
    • Traveling Exhibitions
  • Programs
    • Talks & Tours
    • Classes & Workshops
    • For Educators
    • Film & Planetarium
    • Performing & Literary Art + Creative Practice
    • Family, Youth & Homeschool
    • Special Events
  • Membership
  • Donate
  • Collections
    • Browse the Collections
      • Browse the Collections
        • Art & Material Culture
        • Photographs
        • Finding Aids
        • Subject Guides
        • Alaska’s Digital Archive
        • Alaska Library Catalog
    • Access & Research
    • Acquisitions Committee
    • Rights & Reproductions
    • Announcements
  • About Us
    • Governance
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Anti-Racism
    • Major Projects
    • Seed Lab
    • Calls for Entry/Creative Opportunities
    • Museum Journal
    • E-Newsletter Sign-up
    • About Our Programs and Exhibitions
    • Volunteer
    • Community Support
    • Social Media Guidelines
    • Facility and Other RFP/RFQ
    • Employment
    • Contact Us
    • Press Room
  • Store
ENG more
ESP DEU FRN 漢語 日本の 한국의
  • ×
    • Home
    • Counter Cartographies: Living the Land
    • ARTISTS

    Hans Ragnar Mathisen

    211019 JK 5510

    Hans Ragnar Mathisen


    Norway-based Sámi artist Hans Ragnar Mathisen’s maps serve as counter narratives to ‘official’ histories, providing insights into Sámi culture and Indigenous resistance to the forces of colonization.

    Mathisen’s maps incorporate traditional Sámi symbols and references to Sámi history, literature, and contemporary culture. Sámi handicraft and needlework patterns are referenced in many of the map’s visual embellishments. Mathisen does not delineate countries using colors, lines, or grids; there are no borders in his maps. This deliberate absence reveals the importance of migration in the traditional Sámi way of life, which is based on a reciprocal relationship with land that does not recognize concepts of private property or land ownership.

    Many of Mathisen’s maps appear to be upside down, with Scandinavia positioned at the center, or even showing the Arctic as the center of the world. The sizes of landmasses are often skewed as well, with Sápmi (the Sámi homeland, stretching across northern regions of Russia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) appearing larger than the rest of Scandinavia, and the other continents shrinking in comparison to Europe. Several maps feature Sápmi as a continent of its own.

    Each variation calls on the viewer to reconsider where the center of the world is located. The earth is spherical and, theoretically, any point could be considered its center. By altering typical understandings of cardinal directions, Mathisen invites the viewer to think about the world from the Sámi perspective, where land and free movement of people and animals across the land are of central importance.

    Hans Ragnar Mathisen Website

    Anchorage Museum

    625 C Street
    Anchorage, AK 99501
    907-929-9200 | General
    907-929-9228 | Membership

    Contact Info

    Privacy Policy

    Hours

    Summer Hours
    MAY - SEPTEMBER Open 7 days,
    including holidays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

    First Fridays
    The first Friday of each month - Extended hours to 9 p.m.

    THIS IS DENA’INA EŁNENA.
    ANCHORAGE IS DENA’INA HOMELAND.

    Admission


    • View rates and find admission discounts.

    Buy Tickets

    Press Room

    Membership

    Share this page
    • Share on Facebook
    • Share on Twitter
    • Share on LinkedIn
    am-black