Back

Katarina Dorothea Isaksen

b. 1995, Sážža, Sápmi / Senja, Norway

She/they. Multidisciplinary artist
Based near Bergen/Birgon

Isaksen has published artistic research projects in auditory and written form, retelling sámi history through sámi stories instead of colonial perspectives.

In addition to her artistic research, Isaksen has co-curated Jiennagoahti and collaborated with institutions such as Universitetet i Bergen, Høyskolen Vestland, KODE and Bergen Kunsthall etc. to convey sámi philosophy, history and artistic expressions. Isaksen studied visual arts in Bergen, and the traditional sámi sound artform joik at Nord Universitet.

Board member at Jiennagoahti (an artwork dedicated to listening), Borealis (a festival for experimental music) and Birgon ja biras sámiid searvi (Bergen and surrounding areas sámi association).

Published works:

Singing light

Singing light is a coded, sitebased artwork consisting of interconnected stories as well as audio, visual and interactive elements. It was commisioned by HTML review - an annual journal of literature made to exist on the web.

Singing light explores metaphysical reality from an indigenous sámi worldview.

Visit the work

Arkivbildenes potensiale for menneskeliggjøring: Tromholts fotografier sett innenfra og utenfra

Archival images potential for humanizing: Tromholts photographs seen from the inside and the outside.
A collaboration with historians handling the recontextualizing of portraits taken of indigenous people in the late 1800s by Sophus Tromholt; photographs that are now part of UNESCOs Memory of the world. I collected stories from the lives of the people portrayed, retelling them for the archive.

Ovllá Biret ja Biret Biret Ánne, mother and child who traveled to Alaska to teach inuit people reindeer herding in 1894.

Visit the exhibition

Meahccehallan / The Forest Speaks

Sound art installation curated by Lydgalleriet. Originally commissioned by Borealis – a festival for experimental music, later exhibited at Kunsthall 3.14.

I wanted to shift the common perspective on the exhibition of sámi people in "Lappeleiren", Bergen 1897. I traced her back to a zoo in Paris at 9 years old, and followed her father into the mines of Plaasja/Røros. Their story is that of a family that spent their lives trying to regain their lost land and way of life.

Anna Lisa Olsdatter Bull and Maren Marie Kant

Read more

Birgon

A sound art installation commisioned by Jiennagoahti - an artwork dedicated to listening. I gathered and retold four stories connecting Bergen (northern sámi: Birgon) to Sápmi through relationships - some good and some bad - between norwegians and sámi people. The stories were set to the compositional landscape of artist Sondre Närva Pettersen. From old sagas of sámi princesses and tales of sea spirits, to witch burning and human zoos; Bergen has played an important and forgotten role in sámi colonial history.

Photo: RiddoDuottarMuseat – De Samiske Samlinger

Jiennagoahti

Other

Roamššas ja boaris / Ujevn og gammel, 2022
Poetry submission in Cloudberry paradise – Open Out publication

Jiennagoahti, 2023
Mini-essay in Tidsskriftet Kunsthåndverk

Push pull matters, 2023
Art critique in Tidsskriftet Kunsthåndverk

Vuoigŋavoiŋŋa dovdá, 2024
Art critique in Tidsskriftet Kunsthåndverk

Om bruk av báhkkol/kreftkjuke i samisk tradisjon, 2025
Article in Sopp i nord, Norges sopp- og nyttevekstforbund