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Visitors to the renowned gallery are used to unusual displays in its vast Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an man-made sun, descended down spiral slides, and observed automated sea creatures floating through the air. However this marks the initial time they will be immersing themselves in the intricate nasal passages of a reindeer. The latest creative installation for this huge space—developed by Indigenous Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—encourages visitors into a winding design based on the expanded inside of a reindeer's nasal passages. Once inside, they can wander around or chill out on reindeer hides, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors telling narratives and wisdom.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why choose the nasal structure? It may appear quirky, but the installation celebrates a rarely recognized scientific wonder: researchers have discovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can heat the ambient air it takes in by eighty degrees, helping the creature to survive in harsh Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara explains, "generates a sense of inferiority that you as a human being are not in control over nature." She is a ex- writer, writer for kids, and land defender, who hails from a pastoral family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Possibly that fosters the possibility to change your viewpoint or spark some humbleness," she adds.

A Tribute to Indigenous Heritage

The winding installation is one of several components in Sara's immersive art project honoring the heritage, knowledge, and philosophy of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Partially migratory, the Sámi count roughly 100,000 people spread across the Norwegian north, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an territory they call Sápmi). They've faced oppression, forced assimilation, and eradication of their language by all four nations. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the core of the Sámi cosmology and founding narrative, the work also draws attention to the people's struggles associated with the global warming, property rights, and imperialism.

Metaphor in Components

At the long entry slope, there's a soaring, 26-metre formation of skins ensnared by power and light cables. It represents a metaphor for the societal frameworks limiting the Sámi. Part pylon, part celestial ladder, this component of the exhibit, titled Goavve-, refers to the Sámi term for an harsh environmental condition, wherein dense layers of ice appear as changing conditions thaw and refreeze the snow, locking in the reindeers' primary winter sustenance, lichen. This phenomenon is a consequence of climate change, which is taking place up to much more rapidly in the Far North than in other regions.

Previously, I met with Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a severe cold period and went with Sámi pastoralists on their snowmobiles in chilly conditions as they carried containers of supplementary feed on to the exposed Arctic plains to provide by hand. The reindeer crowded round us, scratching the slippery ground in futility for mossy morsels. This resource-intensive and labour-intensive process is having a drastic effect on animal rearing—and on the animals' independence. However the other option is malnutrition. As goavvi winters become frequent, reindeer are perishing—some from hunger, others suffocating after falling into lakes and rivers through prematurely melting ice. In a sense, the work is a tribute to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm bringing the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

This artwork also highlights the stark difference between the western interpretation of electricity as a commodity to be harnessed for gain and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an natural power in animals, people, and land. Tate Modern's history as a industrial facility is connected to this, as is what the Sámi consider eco-imperialism by Nordic countries. In their efforts to be standard bearers for clean sources, these states have disagreed with the Sámi over the construction of windfarms, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their legal protections, incomes, and traditions are endangered. "It's challenging being such a limited population to stand your ground when the reasons are rooted in environmental protection," Sara observes. "Extractivism has appropriated the discourse of ecology, but still it's just striving to find better ways to persist in practices of expenditure."

Individual Struggles

The artist and her relatives have personally conflicted with the state authorities over its ever-stricter regulations on herding. A few years ago, Sara's sibling undertook a sequence of ultimately unsuccessful court actions over the required reduction of his livestock, ostensibly to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara produced a four-year set of creations titled Pile O'Sápmi including a huge drape of numerous reindeer skulls, which was exhibited at the 2017 event Documenta 14 and later obtained by the National Museum of Oslo, where it is displayed in the entrance.

The Role of Art in Activism

Among the community, art seems the exclusive domain in which they can be heard by the global community. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|