Lågå sámegiellaj. In the heart of the center of Bodø stands the city’s newest property, set up by young people from all over the country. It’s probably not for sale. But what kind of thing is that? A range. A Sami building made of wood, fists and a type of soil. But building a gamme is an “art” that fewer and fewer people can do. Therefore, young people have taken part in the gammeskolen project to learn it. The first people who settled in Norway lived in gammer or similar buildings. Recently, there was an official opening of the gammon, which belongs to Nordland county museum. What is a range? A gamme or goahti/gábmá (North Sami/Lule Sami) is a building with a wooden frame, thatched with battens and covered with turf on the outside. Barns have been used as housing throughout Sápmi, in some places right up to the 1950s and 60s. Usually the gamman has one room which is divided into different areas of use, with a hearth in the middle. For nomadic life, the Sami have most often used lávvu/tjubuk/lavvo, which are easier to move. Source: UiT Norway’s Arctic University – Content-rich and fantastic – When I first chose to take part in this, I initially thought we were going to put the gam in the forest or something. That’s what Mathis Eira (22) says to news. He is one of the young people who have built the gammen. He says that the next time he sets up a gamme, it is unlikely to be in the middle of a city. LEARNED TO BUILD A GAMME: Mathis Eira is one of 12 who has been taught how to build a gamme. In total, there were over 50 who applied to join. Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news – It has been rich and wonderful to be part of this. The gamme school project taught twelve young people between the ages of 16 and 26 how to set up a traditional Sami gamme. The participants have been involved in the entire process. From collecting material to setting up the range itself. Eira says that he joined the project since it is a tradition that is starting to disappear. – Building gamme is an art, and this art is in a sense dying out. That is why we have chosen to take part in this project, so that the art form is preserved for the next generation. Join us for a tour of the gamm. Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news What do you think of the gamm? Cool! 😍 Don’t like it! 😭 No opinion on that! Show result – Very important Gamen stands where the famous Sami work of art “girjegumpi” by Joar Nango once stood. It created reactions in Bodø and many expressed their opinion about it. Some thought it was a bonfire, Danby Choi praised the art and the mayor said he wouldn’t have it in his own garden. When asked how Eira thinks the vulture is received by Bodø’s population, he says that he made a joke for the vulture. He put some specific words in it, says Eira. – That jealousy and that ridicule will probably be sick to “hear”, but the construction will have to endure it. Like the Sami people, we have endured criticism before. The Gammeskolen met for the first time in mid-June. Then the plan was to get wood for the barn. Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news – Not only, only Sander Andersen tells news that he was the construction manager for the project, or “builder” as he himself likes to call himself, he chuckles. This is Andersen’s 18th gamme for which he has led the work. He believes it has been important to participate in the project. – It has to do with the transfer of old knowledge, or old art. Building a gamme is not just, just, says Andersen. OPENING: Sander Andersen spoke during the opening of the gamm. Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news – Why has it been important to have the youth on the team? – It is transferring the knowledge that I possess to a younger generation, who will hopefully put it to use and see the value and usefulness of it. At least I do, and I’ve been doing it since the mid-80s. Andersen says that he thinks it has been grand and a bit special to set up the gamm, which now stands in the middle of Bodø town centre. – We can perhaps call it the bygammon. “Stádagábmá” in Sami. I don’t know if they have found other names for it, he says. Visibility Joar Nango is the man behind the girjegumpi project. It is about Sami architecture and as a conclusion to the project they have gathered Sami youth, he tells news. – But why is it precisely youth? – That is how Sami tradition is. We learn through generations and traditional crafts are exactly that. ARTIST: Joar Nango is a well-known artist who has exhibited his art in many countries. Photo: Vetle Mathiesen Knutsen / news Nango says that building gamme is a knowledge that is disappearing. – Do you think that all the twelve young people who have taken part now will be able to do this on their own? – I actually think so. They have absorbed and learned a lot from the process. Time will tell if everyone is going to build gamme, but I think quite a few of them have learned enough to be able to use the knowledge on their own. You need to raise and make visible where in the world Bodø is and that it is not like an extension of Oslo, Nango believes. – But that there is a place in another cultural territory where both the Sami and the Norwegian have always been, and still are. Published 24.10.2024, at 18.09
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