Erika Larsen in Sweden
What is your project in Sweden?
I came to Sápmi and more specifically northern Sweden to live and learn from families of Sámi reindeer herders. Sámi are the indigenous people living in the Arctic Circle region of northern Scandinavia and it is the largest area in the world with an ancestral way of life based on the seasonal migrations of the animals. Sámi are by tradition reindeer herders and have lived a nomadic lifestyle based on the reindeer migration. They can own and sell wildlife in Scandinavia. By possessing a livelihood that is dependent on their surroundings, the Sámi are acutely aware of the changes in nature. Their spoken language, despite being derived from the Finno-Uralic roots, has transformed and is considered an Arctic language rich in its ability to explain the natural world.
I am a storyteller. Here my imagery engages, on a daily basis, the lives of these people. I am creating photographs, film footage and written journals of my time here.
My filming explores the Sámi’s symbiotic relationship with the environment, illustrates their existence in today’s world and continues to seek the mystery and beauty which fueled past generations providing sustenance for the modern Sámi today. I am trying to learn their language and gain an understanding of how their work in reindeer husbandry operates in today’s modern society. The Fulbright experience has allowed me the time and access to inhabit the world depicted in my imagery. On this project, unlike any others endeavors in the past, my ability to be an effective storyteller is influenced by a collective sense of how I see. I recognize the Sámi civilization to be steeped in dualities with a reverence for daily life. This allows me fertile ground to explore.
What kinds of collaborations have you established while on your grant?
All of my collaborations have been with families that are reindeer herders. I live in their homes and have had the opportunity to experience what daily work with the reindeer entails. I see the Sámi as an important example of people with traditional roots who have managed to bridge into the modern world with these traditions still intact on a functional level. I have been taught to sew Sámi shoes, clothing and handicraft, cook traditional food, and listen to numerous hours of story telling which is like a live theater before my eyes. I am learning about the past and the present and watching what it is to be Sámi today. To immerse in a culture and people in this manner is unsurpassed by any other method.
How do you think your time on the Fulbright grant will influence your work after your grant?
The time on my Fulbright has already changed my life in many ways but most important my experience with Sámi has made me take a deep evaluation of my own life and values. Sámi place a special emphasis on the family unit and community involvement. Successful work with the reindeer is highly dependent on these connections. On a personal level I believe that when I return home I will have clearer sense of balance between my work life and family life. On a professional level, the Fulbright grant has allowed me to create an in depth body of imagery that had not been possible for me before and to work at this level has created an inevitable maturity within myself. More than ever before my work is beginning to touch a universal understanding of the human experience and I am gaining a clearer vision of the power of story telling. I know this will continue to affect future stories in which I engage after my Fulbright.
What influenced you to apply for a Fulbright grant to Sweden, especially as an artist?
I was encouraged to apply for a Fulbright by a mentor who believed that in order for me to grow as an artist I needed the time and cultural emersion the Fulbright Program facilitated. Before my Fulbright the majority of my work focused on the world of modern hunting. I watched people and animals engage, and I began to realize that hunters understood a language I did not. In time I began to see a balance and clarity that I had not seen elsewhere. Nature, animal and man were all intertwined components of a larger force. While hunting in contemporary North America has lost its formative purpose – the search for sustenance – I saw that the Sámi reindeer herders offered a group of people whose lifestyle and cultural survival was based on this connection. It seemed that the culture was still living in a rhythmic flow with nature. I want to explore this discovery further and believed that through the Sámi I would better understand on a universal level our role as stewards of the earth.
What advice would you give artists, particularly photographers, if they are considering applying for a Fulbright grant?
The advice I would give artists, particularly photographers, is be extremely thoughtful that your project is something that you are whole-heartedly willing to engage in on a full time basis and to be ready to be transformed. As an artist this experience will strip away numerous layers of yourself and many preconceived ideas you may have had about your work and why you are doing it. Most important, I believe it will give you a greater understanding of what it means to be human.
Background: Erika Larsen has been working as a magazine photographer for the past ten years. Her stories have appeared internationally in publications such as Time, Newsweek, Geo, Reader’ Digest and DU Magazin.
She has been a contributing photographer to Field and Stream since 2005 and her most notable bodies of work, ‘Young Blood’ and ‘The Hunt’ look intimately at hunting culture in North America, its connection with nature and its role in the cycle of life and death. This work has been exhibited internationally.
She won a World Press Award in 2008 and has been recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors, American Photography and Society of Photographers. She has received grants from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts and Women in Photography.
She is a member of the Redux Picture Agency and, when finished with her Fulbright, will return to her home in New York City.
http://www.erikalarsenphoto.com
http://www.reduxpictures.com
To the U.S.-Sweden Fulbright Program
