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Attendees to Tate Modern are used to unusual displays in its vast Turbine Hall. They've basked under an man-made sun, descended down spiral slides, and observed robotic sea creatures floating through the air. Yet this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the intricate nose passages of a reindeer. The newest artistic project for this cavernous space—designed by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes gallerygoers into a winding structure modeled after the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Inside, they can stroll around or chill out on skins, tuning in on headphones to community leaders sharing tales and wisdom.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why choose the nasal structure? It could sound whimsical, but the artwork celebrates a rarely recognized biological feat: scientists have discovered that in under a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the surrounding air it takes in by 80 degrees celsius, allowing the creature to endure in harsh Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara notes, "generates a perception of inferiority that you as a human being are not superior over nature." Sara is a former journalist, writer for kids, and rights advocate, who hails from a reindeer-herding family in the far north of Norway. "Possibly that fosters the potential to change your outlook or spark some humility," she states.

A Celebration to Indigenous Heritage

The labyrinthine installation is part of a elements in Sara's absorbing commission celebrating the heritage, knowledge, and beliefs of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Partially migratory, the Sámi total about 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Kola region (an region they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, cultural suppression, and suppression of their language by all four nations. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the center of the Sámi belief system and origin tale, the art also highlights the group's struggles connected to the climate crisis, loss of territory, and external control.

Symbolism in Elements

At the lengthy entry slope, there's a towering, 26-metre formation of pelts trapped by utility lines. It can be read as a symbol for the political and economic systems limiting the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part spiritual ascent, this part of the installation, titled Goavve-, relates to the Sámi word for an severe climatic event, whereby solid coatings of ice appear as changing conditions melt and refreeze the snow, locking in the reindeers' primary cold-season sustenance, moss. Goavvi is a result of global heating, which is occurring up to four times faster in the Far North than in other regions.

Three years ago, I traveled to see Sara in the Norwegian far north during a goavvi winter and accompanied Sámi reindeer keepers on their snowmobiles in biting cold as they hauled trailers of animal nutrition on to the exposed Arctic plains to dispense through labor. The herd gathered round us, pawing the slippery ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered pieces. This resource-intensive and labour-intensive process is having a drastic effect on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. However the other option is malnutrition. As goavvi winters become commonplace, reindeer are dying—a number from hunger, others submerging after falling into water bodies through prematurely melting ice. To some extent, the installation is a tribute to them. "By overlapping of elements, in a way I'm transporting the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The sculpture also highlights the stark contrast between the western understanding of electricity as a resource to be harnessed for profit and existence and the Sámi worldview of energy as an natural essence in creatures, people, and land. This venue's history as a fossil fuel plant is connected to this, as is what the Sámi view as eco-imperialism by Scandinavian states. As they strive to be standard bearers for clean sources, these states have disagreed with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, water power facilities, and extraction sites on their native soil; the Sámi assert their human rights, livelihoods, and way of life are at risk. "It's challenging being such a small minority to stand your ground when the arguments are based on environmental protection," Sara comments. "Mining practices has adopted the language of ecology, but yet it's just attempting to find better ways to continue habits of use."

Personal Struggles

The artist and her family have personally conflicted with the state authorities over its increasingly stringent rules on animal husbandry. A few years ago, Sara's brother initiated a series of unsuccessful legal cases over the mandatory slaughter of his herd, apparently to stop overgrazing. In support, Sara created a four-year set of artworks titled Pile O'Sápmi featuring a colossal curtain of 400 reindeer skulls, which was shown at the 2017's show Documenta 14 and later acquired by the public gallery, where it is displayed in the entrance.

Art as Activism

For numerous Indigenous people, visual expression is the exclusive realm in which they can be heard by outsiders. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|