In the history of art, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää is one of the names that keeps being returned to.
The record lists Nils-Aslak Valkeapää as Northern Sámi writer, artist and musician (1943–2001).
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää was born at Enontekiö in 1943. His recorded nationality is Finland. He trained at Kemijärvi teacher seminary.
Twentieth-century art was international, heavily theorised and increasingly conceptual, with the market growing alongside it.
He worked as poet, painter and singer.
Looking is a skill, and the artists who last are those who taught their audience how to do it.
Recognition followed: Nordic Council Literature Prize (1991) and Order of the White Star, 5th Class (1995).
That the work was made in Finland shaped it: artistic traditions, academies and the galleries that decide what is seen have never been evenly distributed.
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää died in 2001, aged 58. The work remains, hanging in collections that outlived both the artist and the market that first priced it.
Achievements
- Nordic Council Literature Prize — 1991
- Order of the White Star, 5th Class — 1995
