In 1884, Prince Roland Bonaparte led an anthropological expedition to Northern Norway (Finnmark) and Sweden to document the Sámi people. The majority of the photography for this project was executed by his expedition photographer, G. Roche.
Unlike contemporary photographers who captured candid lifestyle shots, Roche and Bonaparte used the “en face” (frontal) and profile formula. This was a standardized, quasi-scientific method designed to document physical traits.
The collection includes over 100 portraits of Sámi individuals. Many of the subjects are identified by name in the archives, such as Jol Andersen (a Sea Sámi man from Finnmark), Anna Hurri, and Niels Larsen Pilto.
Subjects often wear traditional gákti (Sámi clothing) but are placed against neutral backgrounds or within rigid frames. Some portraits even include “number plates” or height scales, reflecting the era’s obsession with racial categorization.
While the portraits are the most famous, the expedition also captured Sámi dwellings (lavvu), boats, and the Arctic landscape, providing a broader context of 1880s Northern Norway.
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