Britta Marakatt-Labba / Cosmos

Bildmuseet presents Britta Marakatt-Labba in the most ambitious exhibition, Cosmos, to date with her art. Over 50 works have been loaned from Swedish and Norwegian collections. One of these is the recently completed 24 meter long embroidery narrating the history of the Sami people, normally on permanent display at the University of Tromsø.

Britta Marakatt-Labba’s special technique is embroidery, using thin yarns of wool, silk, linen on fabric, often in combination with screenprinting and collage. The motifs in her poetic and distinctive works often originate from Sami culture. Creating epic narratives she moves effortlessly between past and present, blending memories, tradition and Sami mythology with contemporary vernacular living.

Britta Marakatt-Labba’s production extends over more than three decades and consists primarily of textile works but includes also graphic prints, book illustrations, scenography and costumes for film and theatre. She has produced a number of public works in Norway and Sweden, of which the most remarkable is 40 cm high and 24 m long embroidery narrating the story of the Sami people, with the reindeer caravan as a central motif. This work, which in its detail and monumentality brings associations to such art history classics as the Bayeux tapestry, took four years to complete. It was funded by KORO, the Norwegian state fund for public art for the University of Tromsø and was installed in 2007. Bildmuseet has now the unique opportunity to present this work. In total the exhibit counts more than sixty works, on loan from public and private collections in Norway and Sweden.

Britta Marakatt-Labba lives and works in Övre Soppero. She has participated in many solo- and group exhibitions in Sweden and internationally, such as Norway, Denmark, Iceland, China, Canada, Japan, Russia. She is represented in public and private collections in Sweden, Norway and Finland and has received several awards and stipends. Recently, she completed the costumes for the Sami Theatre’s presentation of Staffan Göthe’s play A night in February, which premiered in Kiruna on the 12th of February.