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Guests to the renowned gallery are used to surprising experiences in its spacious Turbine Hall. They have basked under an man-made sun, descended down helter skelters, and seen robotic sea creatures hovering through the air. However this marks the first time they will be engaging themselves in the intricate nasal cavities of a reindeer. The newest artistic project for this huge space—created by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—encourages visitors into a maze-like structure modeled after the scaled-up interior of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Once inside, they can meander around or relax on pelts, tuning in on headphones to Sámi elders telling tales and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It may seem whimsical, but the installation pays tribute to a obscure biological feat: researchers have found that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can warm the ambient air it breathes in by 80°C, allowing the creature to endure in harsh Arctic temperatures. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara says, "produces a sense of inferiority that you as a individual are not in control over nature." The artist is a former writer, children's author, and rights advocate, who hails from a reindeer-herding family in the far north of Norway. "Possibly that creates the potential to shift your outlook or evoke some humility," she adds.

A Tribute to Traditional Ways

The labyrinthine installation is one of several elements in Sara's absorbing exhibition celebrating the heritage, understanding, and philosophy of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi count about 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and the Kola region (an territory they call Sápmi). They have endured discrimination, forced assimilation, and suppression of their tongue by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an animal at the core of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the work also highlights the group's issues connected to the climate crisis, land dispossession, and colonialism.

Symbolism in Components

On the long entry ramp, there's a looming, eighty-five-foot formation of pelts ensnared by power and light cables. It serves as a symbol for the governance and financial structures constraining the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part heavenly staircase, this part of the exhibit, called Goavve-, relates to the Sámi name for an harsh environmental condition, in which dense sheets of ice form as changing weather liquefy and solidify again the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary cold-season nourishment, lichen. The condition is a consequence of planetary warming, which is occurring up to much more rapidly in the Arctic than elsewhere.

Previously, I traveled to see Sara in the Norwegian far north during a icy season and went with Sámi pastoralists on their snowmobiles in freezing temperatures as they carried containers of food pellets on to the barren tundra to distribute manually. These animals surrounded round us, scratching the frozen ground in vain attempts for vegetative morsels. This resource-intensive and laborious process is having a significant impact on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. Yet the other option is malnutrition. As goavvi winters become commonplace, reindeer are perishing—some from lack of food, others suffocating after sinking in water bodies through thinning ice sheets. To some extent, the work is a monument to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm transporting the condition to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The installation also emphasizes the stark contrast between the western interpretation of electricity as a resource to be exploited for economic benefit and existence and the Sámi philosophy of energy as an natural power in animals, individuals, and the environment. Tate Modern's history as a coal and oil power station is connected to this, as is what the Sámi see as environmental exploitation by Nordic countries. While attempting to be leaders for sustainable power, Scandinavian countries have disagreed with the Sámi over the construction of windfarms, water power facilities, and extraction sites on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their human rights, ways of life, and culture are at risk. "It's challenging being such a small minority to stand your ground when the justifications are rooted in environmental protection," Sara observes. "Extractivism has adopted the language of ecology, but nonetheless it's just attempting to find more suitable ways to continue practices of consumption."

Personal Conflicts

She and her family have personally conflicted with the national administration over its ever-stricter regulations on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's brother embarked on a set of finally failed legal cases over the forced culling of his herd, supposedly to stop vegetation depletion. As a show of solidarity, Sara developed a multi-year collection of creations titled Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal curtain of numerous cranial remains, which was exhibited at the 2017's show Documenta 14 and later obtained by the National Museum of Oslo, where it resides in the entryway.

Art as Awareness

For many Sámi, visual expression appears the only domain in which they can be listened to by outsiders. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|