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Visitors to the renowned gallery are used to unusual experiences in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have sunbathed under an man-made sun, glided down spiral slides, and seen AI-powered sea creatures hovering through the air. Yet this marks the initial time they will be venturing themselves in the intricate nasal passages of a reindeer. The latest artistic project for this immense space—developed by Native Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—invites patrons into a maze-like construction modeled after the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nose cavities. Upon entering, they can meander around or relax on skins, tuning in on earphones to community leaders sharing stories and insights.

The Significance of the Nose

Why choose the nasal structure? It might seem whimsical, but the exhibit pays tribute to a little-known natural marvel: experts have found that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the surrounding air it breathes in by 80°C, allowing the animal to endure in harsh Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara explains, "generates a feeling of smallness that you as a human being are not superior over nature." She is a ex- journalist, writer for kids, and land defender, who comes from a herding family in northern Norway. "Perhaps that generates the possibility to alter your outlook or evoke some humbleness," she adds.

A Tribute to Sámi Culture

The labyrinthine structure is among various features in Sara's engaging commission showcasing the traditions, understanding, and philosophy of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi number roughly 100,000 people spread across the Norwegian north, Finland, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They have endured oppression, integration policies, and suppression of their tongue by all four nations. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the core of the Sámi cosmology and creation story, the installation also highlights the group's struggles connected to the climate crisis, property rights, and imperialism.

Metaphor in Elements

On the lengthy entrance ramp, there's a looming, 26-meter sculpture of pelts ensnared by power and light cables. It can be read as a analogy for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part spiritual ascent, this component of the exhibit, called Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an severe climatic event, in which dense coatings of ice develop as changing weather thaw and refreeze the snow, trapping the reindeers' key winter sustenance, fungus. Goavvi is a outcome of climate change, which is taking place up to much more rapidly in the Arctic than in other regions.

Three years ago, I met with Sara in a remote town during a severe cold period and went with Sámi pastoralists on their Arctic vehicles in freezing temperatures as they transported containers of animal nutrition on to the exposed frozen landscape to distribute through labor. These animals crowded round us, pawing the icy ground in futility for vegetative bits. This costly and laborious procedure is having a severe effect on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. But the choice is malnutrition. As these icy periods become frequent, reindeer are succumbing—some from starvation, others suffocating after plunging into lakes and rivers through prematurely melting ice. To some extent, the art is a monument to them. "With the layering of components, in a way I'm transporting the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Worldviews

The sculpture also underscores the clear contrast between the modern understanding of electricity as a resource to be exploited for economic benefit and existence and the Sámi worldview of life force as an innate life force in creatures, individuals, and land. Tate Modern's legacy as a industrial facility is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi view as green colonialism by Scandinavian states. As they strive to be exemplars for clean sources, these states have locked horns with the Sámi over the development of wind energy projects, river barriers, and mines on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their legal protections, incomes, and culture are threatened. "It's challenging being such a tiny group to protect your rights when the justifications are rooted in saving the world," Sara notes. "Mining practices has appropriated the language of sustainability, but still it's just aiming to find better ways to persist in habits of use."

Family Challenges

The artist and her family have personally disagreed with the Norwegian government over its tightening policies on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's sibling undertook a series of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits over the required reduction of his livestock, ostensibly to stop overgrazing. As a show of solidarity, Sara created a four-year series of artworks named Pile O'Sápmi featuring a huge screen of numerous cranial remains, which was shown at the 2017 event Documenta 14 and later obtained by the national institution, where it resides in the lobby.

Art as Awareness

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