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Guests to the renowned gallery are used to unusual displays in its spacious Turbine Hall. They have basked under an man-made sun, descended down helter skelters, and witnessed automated jellyfish hovering through the air. But this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the detailed nasal chambers of a reindeer. The newest artist commission for this immense space—created by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes patrons into a maze-like construction modeled after the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nose passages. Inside, they can stroll around or relax on skins, tuning in on earphones to Sámi elders sharing tales and insights.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It could sound whimsical, but the artwork pays tribute to a little-known natural marvel: researchers have found that in under a second, the reindeer's nose can warm the incoming air it inhales by eighty degrees, helping the creature to thrive in extreme Arctic climates. Scaling the nose to bigger than a person, Sara notes, "creates a sense of inferiority that you as a person are not dominant over nature." Sara is a ex- reporter, young adult author, and rights advocate, who hails from a herding family in the far north of Norway. "Perhaps that creates the chance to shift your outlook or spark some modesty," she states.

A Celebration to Traditional Ways

The winding structure is one of several components in Sara's engaging art project showcasing the culture, knowledge, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi total approximately 100,000 people ranged across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Kola region (an territory they call Sápmi). They've experienced discrimination, cultural suppression, and eradication of their dialect by all four states. Through highlighting the reindeer, an creature at the center of the Sámi cosmology and origin tale, the installation also draws attention to the group's challenges associated with the climate crisis, loss of territory, and imperialism.

Symbolism in Elements

On the extended access incline, there's a towering, eighty-five-foot sculpture of reindeer hides entangled by utility lines. It serves as a symbol for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part celestial ladder, this component of the artwork, titled Goavve-, relates to the Sámi word for an harsh environmental condition, in which thick layers of ice develop as fluctuating weather melt and solidify again the snow, locking in the reindeers' main winter nourishment, moss. Goavvi is a consequence of global heating, which is occurring up to much more rapidly in the Arctic than globally.

Three years ago, I visited Sara in a remote town during a icy season and joined Sámi herders on their motorized sleds in chilly conditions as they carried carts of supplementary feed on to the barren Arctic plains to distribute manually. The herd crowded round us, pawing the frozen ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered pieces. This expensive and demanding procedure is having a severe influence on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' natural survival. But the choice is starvation. As goavvi winters become routine, reindeer are dying—a number from lack of food, others drowning after sinking in lakes and rivers through thinning ice sheets. In a sense, the work is a monument to them. "By overlapping of elements, in a way I'm introducing the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Diverging Belief Systems

The sculpture also highlights the sharp contrast between the western view of electricity as a asset to be exploited for profit and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an innate essence in animals, humans, and land. Tate Modern's past as a coal and oil power station is connected to this, as is what the Sámi consider eco-imperialism by Nordic countries. While attempting to be standard bearers for sustainable power, these states have locked horns with the Sámi over the building of wind energy projects, hydroelectric dams, and extraction sites on their traditional territory; the Sámi assert their human rights, livelihoods, and culture are endangered. "It's hard being such a small minority to stand your ground when the reasons are rooted in saving the world," Sara notes. "Extractivism has co-opted the discourse of environmentalism, but still it's just striving to find better ways to maintain patterns of consumption."

Individual Challenges

Sara and her kin have themselves disagreed with the national administration over its ever-stricter policies on animal husbandry. A few years ago, Sara's sibling embarked on a sequence of ultimately unsuccessful court actions over the forced culling of his livestock, apparently to stop vegetation depletion. As a show of solidarity, Sara developed a four-year collection of artworks named Pile O'Sápmi including a massive drape of numerous reindeer skulls, which was exhibited at the 2017 event Documenta 14 and later acquired by the public gallery, where it resides in the lobby.

Creative Expression as Activism

For many Sámi, visual expression appears the sole realm in which they can be listened to by people of other nations. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|