Bronze – 2025

Olof Marsja’s bronze sculpture Light Tracker, or in Northern Sámi Čuovgga guorri, depicts a floral being on skis, eyes fixed on the horizon and directed toward the future. A hybrid creature moving freely across the national and cultural borders shaped by history. Up close, the traces of the original materials are clearly visible: wood, plywood, plaster, reindeer antler, textile, plastic, and other found objects. The joints – screws, strings, and wooden pegs – are deliberately exposed and openly presented.

These transitions and intersections are central to Marsja’s artistic practice, where he repeatedly explores questions of identity, belonging, and existing between worlds – with one foot in both Sámi and Swedish cultures. In Light Tracker, the handmade and organic meet the industrially produced. Found materials, diverse techniques, and approaches together form a body that reflects how we humans are not a homogeneous whole, but are held together by a weave of memories, stories, and cultures in constant transformation.

The imprint of the hand is a recurring element in Marsja’s work. It stands as a symbol of warmth, presence, and the interpersonal – in contrast to a world moving toward the frictionless and digital.

Olof Marsja’s work is Sweden’s gift to Finland on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Hanaholmen Cultural Centre in 2025. Produced by the Swedish Public Art Agency, the artwork is part of the Finnish State Art Deposit Collection at the Finnish National Gallery.