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Guests to Tate Modern are familiar to surprising encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an artificial sun, descended down amusement rides, and seen AI-powered jellyfish drifting through the air. But this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the detailed nose chambers of a reindeer. The current creative installation for this immense space—created by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—encourages gallerygoers into a maze-like construction inspired by the expanded interior of a reindeer's nose cavities. Once inside, they can stroll around or relax on pelts, listening on headphones to tribal seniors sharing stories and wisdom.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

What's the focus on the nose? It might sound quirky, but the installation honors a little-known biological feat: experts have found that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can warm the ambient air it takes in by eighty degrees, allowing the animal to survive in inhospitable Arctic conditions. Expanding the nose to bigger than a person, Sara explains, "creates a feeling of insignificance that you as a individual are not in control over nature." The artist is a former reporter, writer for kids, and rights advocate, who comes from a herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Perhaps that generates the potential to change your perspective or trigger some humbleness," she continues.

A Tribute to Traditional Ways

The labyrinthine installation is one of several elements in Sara's immersive commission honoring the traditions, understanding, and worldview of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi number about 100,000 people distributed across the Norwegian north, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Kola region (an region they call Sápmi). They've experienced persecution, integration policies, and eradication of their dialect by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi mythology and origin tale, the work also spotlights the community's challenges associated with the environmental emergency, land dispossession, and external control.

Metaphor in Components

On the long entrance incline, there's a looming, 26-meter sculpture of skins ensnared by power and light cables. It can be read as a symbol for the political and economic systems limiting the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part celestial ladder, this component of the installation, titled Goavve-, points to the Sámi name for an harsh environmental condition, whereby dense layers of ice form as varying conditions liquefy and ice over the snow, trapping the reindeers' main winter sustenance, fungus. Goavvi is a result of planetary warming, which is occurring up to at an accelerated rate in the Arctic than elsewhere.

Previously, I met with Sara in a remote town during a severe cold period and joined Sámi herders on their Arctic vehicles in freezing temperatures as they hauled carts of food pellets on to the exposed frozen landscape to dispense through labor. The herd crowded round us, digging the icy ground in vain for mossy bits. This expensive and demanding process is having a significant impact on animal rearing—and on the animals' independence. But the other option is death. When such conditions become frequent, reindeer are succumbing—a number from starvation, others suffocating after sinking in streams through thinning ice sheets. To some extent, the art is a monument to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm introducing the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Belief Systems

The installation also highlights the stark contrast between the western view of electricity as a asset to be exploited for gain and survival and the Sámi philosophy of energy as an innate life force in creatures, people, and land. Tate Modern's history as a industrial facility is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi consider green colonialism by Scandinavian states. In their efforts to be exemplars for clean sources, these states have locked horns with the Sámi over the construction of turbine fields, river barriers, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their legal protections, incomes, and culture are threatened. "It's hard being such a limited population to protect your rights when the reasons are grounded in global sustainability," Sara comments. "Mining practices has appropriated the language of sustainability, but still it's just striving to find more suitable ways to maintain habits of consumption."

Family Struggles

She and her family have themselves disagreed with the national administration over its tightening policies on animal husbandry. In 2016, Sara's sibling embarked on a set of ultimately unsuccessful court actions over the forced culling of his livestock, ostensibly to stop overgrazing. As a show of solidarity, Sara produced a multi-year collection of creations called Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal screen of 400 reindeer skulls, which was displayed at the the show Documenta 14 and later purchased by the public gallery, where it resides in the entrance.

Creative Expression as Awareness

Among the community, creative work seems the only realm in which they can be understood by outsiders. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|