My favourite shawl. Head dress I made by hand.A tantric Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal statue I helped repaint for a friend. The union of wisdom and compassion. Wish I had a similar one! Hopefully one day I will afford one 🙏🏻
You know how you need to pretend to sleep in order to fall asleep? And at some point it just happens. Maybe it’s the same with other areas of life. Fake it till you make it, kind of, not in a bad way – just a dedicated one. I have noticed at least that the same applies to yoga and meditation sometimes. If I feel stressed, anxious and restless, I force myself to do the practice anyway. And at some level it still does its magic, of that I am 100% sure. In between the sleepless thoughts and rough emotions – they become like clouds in the pastel coloured sky.
Wishing all a lovely calm Polar night, and remember that it’s in darkness you shine the brightest 🌌✨🎆
Sámi headdress by me, shawl hand-me-down. Photo by Sebastian Wilches 2020.
Some things I truly believe are yours to keep, that no one can take from you:
Your spiritual practice. In my case, it is vajrayana buddhism. It has saved my life in many ways – both in dealing with chronic illness, but also the normal existential stuff like finding purpose and joy 🙂🙏🏼📿
Your ambitions and dreams (if they come from a place of pure motivation and love). In my case now, it has been starting a little family with children 💜🤱
Your ethnicity and ancestry, no matter how lost or scattered it is in this modern world. In my case from my personal experience, I feel very connected to my home in the Arctic and being uralic/finno-ugric (sámi). I didn’t as a kid and teenager, at all, but now as I am older, I feel like I can “own” it more. I don’t speak any of the uralic languages, and feel a sadness about this. A disconnection from my own culture. And a feeling of not belonging to a community, when they can’t speak to me. I hope my son will not feel as disconnected. But I have found other ways to express this – primarily through art and duodji. Not all languages are of verbal nature, but are equally important, I think. 🎨
Your creativity. Not necessarily arts, but anything you find a solution to that involves stepping out of the habitual intellectual mind and into a state of spontaneity and flow.🌊
Your struggles. This sounds negative, but for me I mean that my struggles are valid. I have a body that has its big share of physical problems, and I don’t mean to whine. At all! 🙂 Just to express that this is my reality, and that chronic (perhaps invisible to others) illness can happen to anyone, any time in life.💙
Your love. This one sounds cheesy but I think we all can feel love and that we have love as a basic human need. To receive it and give it. And we all have different ways of showing it. I like giving gifts for example.. but am not so good verbally expressing how I feel. I like receiving kind loving deeds, but not to be smothered. So understanding how we show it differently is important too. I also believe that as humans we have the capacity to love many at the same time. Whether it is friends or partners, plural. Romantic, familial or platonic.❤
Always feel the most beautiful in my own handmade clothing and/or traditional clothing. Sámi hat and skirt made by me 🙂 Photos by Sebastian Wilches, edit by me. Not sure what I am doing with my hands, I never know how to hold them…(: Photo and edit by Sebastian Wilches (@wilchesfotografia)Kofte and wool hat made by me Mittens by my ‘mother-in-law’ Kristin (@dachsedilla)Photo by Sebastian Wilches, edit by me.
The sun returning in January in Bukta on Tromsø islandPeople greeting the sunWas in Tamokdalen to help with a photo project. Beautiful crispy dayI made my first sámi silk shawl, in gorgeous yellow/goldAnd a pair of ankle wraps. Hand vowen…Kali liked them too!Got one new tattoo this year 🙂 Painting in the background made for my bffMet the cutest puppy! Look at that face…🧡Frozen raindrops outside my windowMy best friend got married in Brooklyn. Unreal and beautiful. First time in the US for me ☺Heidrun and me. Prettiest bride 🌻Me in my handmade coast kofte. What a day 💚💛❤In Central ParkTime’s squareMe being a total tourist ✌Time’s Square again. It was colourful and overwhelming 🙃🌈New York subwayKvaløya, beautiful as always Whale watching.. the sky was so pink that dayOrcasTrain ride in OsloLittle cloudKim Katami and me on retreat 🧘♀️ New Years eve 2018/2019WalesMy lovely friend and sangha sister, Elizabeth from Louisiana. We were in Birmingham Retreat girlsIce skating on this lake that made the coolest soundsKvaløyaKvaløya, cold day on the beach. Around 15°cMidnight sun 🌅 Håja mountain Gained healthy weight this year 🙌Did a giveaway on my facebook art page with this painting, got so good feedback, made me happy 🙂Made more of these small cute paintingsSpain. I got very tan 🙃💛Was two days in France. Didn’t get too explore too much because of time, money and energy, but saw this lovely garden in ToulouseAnd met Blueberry the donkey!Tromsø catethedralAutumn was very pretty, as usual 🍁Got my hair cut at a salon for the first time in 2,5 years😍Paviljongen in TromsøAutumn day in Tromsø LokeAnti racism event at the town square, as a response to recent violence against indigenous peopleMy favourite painting from this year. Inspired by the Arctic polar nightWent to quite a lot of museums and exhibitions this yearFound this cool and weird coat on flea marketWas butt naked in a commercial 😅Made an X-files painting for a friend 🛸
I have sooo many more pictures from this year, but some of them I feel are nice to keep private 😊💛
Gruppebilde utenfor Kongsbakken vgs før vi begynte å gå. Hva bedre å ha på seg til anledningen enn det antrekket jeg føler meg stoltest av og finest i 💃 har helt glemt å legge ut bilde av kofta mi på bloggen før, og hele syprosessen, men dette er altså min håndlagde kofte (som ennå ikke er helt ferdig, hysj🤓)En veldig fargerik Katharina 🏳️🌈I paraden.Fikk meg en ny venn i paraden! @gullvinge på insta 😊Imponerende kostymer..❄😍
En enkel d.i.y som jeg ladge for masse år siden; sydde et lite hårtørkle/pannebånd ut av et sjal med fint fargerikt blomstermønster. På midten av båndet er det et lite tøystykke som klemmer det sammen og gir sånn fin fasong. Enkel dobbelknute i nakken ✌ Nå som jeg begynner å få hår igjen (holdt det på 7 mm en god stund), så er det gøy å leke med litt farger, frisyrer og diverse hårpynt. Også må jeg innrømme at min naturlige hårfarge ikke er så verst, er nok ferdig med å farge det.
Handmade traditional form fitted sámi silk shawl for my Sea Sámi kofte made with Asian brocade fabric traditionally used in buddhism. Lotus and vajra pattern in yellow and gold 😊 Turned out so nice, very happy with the result, it’s glowing in the sunlight 🙌 My kofte (gákti) is green, which will look amazing with the yellow 💛
Oransje og blå er muligens min favoritt komplimentærfargekombinasjon, og jeg har lenge lurt på hva jeg skal sy ut av denne bordduken jeg aldri har brukt. Så da ble det til en enkel og fin – og veldig sommerlig tøyveske med gullknapper som dekorasjon på hver side. Kjempefornøyd med resultatet, har brukt den så og si hver dag siden jeg lagde den. Har stoff nok til å lage én til, så om noen er interessert, let me know! 😀
