Ingunn Utsi

Ingunn Utsi (born 1948) is a Norwegian Sámi sculptor, painter and book illustrator from Repvågstranda in Norway's Nordkapp Municipality. In recognition of her contributions to Sámi culture, in 2019 she was elected an honorary member of the Sámi Cultural Association (Samisk Kunstnerforbund, SDS). One of her most celebrated works is Gudni II (Homage II), a sculpture she created in 2016 on the trunk of a pine tree in the Art Park of Ii, Finland.

Biography Born in November 1948 near Repvågstranda in the Nordkapp Municipality, she was brought up by parents who only spoke Sámi at home, considering it important for her to use the native language rather than Norwegian. She was possibly the last child in the area to have Sámi as her mother tongue as those born after 1953 were raised in Norwegian. From 1955, she attended the Norwegian-speaking boarding school in Repvågstranda where her elder brother Oliver helped her with Norwegian. After the school was closed in 1957, she continued her education at the Solvang boarding school in Sarnes, continuing at the junior high school in Honningsvåg and at the high school in Alta.