Art, Indigeneity and Queer Readings - A Conversation between Sara Salminen and Katarina Pirak Sikku

The volume, published by Valiz, is composed of case studies, interviews and essays that emphasize different queer exhibitions and their modes of presentation and archiving.

One of the chapters, co-written by Sara Salminen and Katarina Pirak Sikku, centres around Katarina’s art piece from 2004, Just for the Pleasure, where she can be seen posing in front of a camera, wearing self-made lingerie that she has embroidered using the traditional Sámi duodje technique. The making of the duodje lingerie was an attempt at provoking a conservative Sámi tradition – and, as an unintended consequence, became a way for Katarina to reclaim her own identity as a Sámi woman in the 2000s.

After having been included in a project called Queering Sápmi, Sámi life stories beyond the norm, in 2013, the piece took on a queer journey of its own. In this chapter, Sara and Katarina discuss the piece itself, its different meanings, and how it speaks to a queer reader.