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Attendees to Tate Modern are accustomed to unexpected displays in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an simulated sun, glided down spiral slides, and seen AI-powered sea creatures hovering through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be engaging themselves in the complex nasal passages of a reindeer. The latest creative installation for this immense space—created by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes visitors into a labyrinthine design modeled after the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nose airways. Inside, they can meander around or chill out on skins, listening on earphones to tribal seniors telling stories and wisdom.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why the nose? It might appear playful, but the exhibit celebrates a obscure natural marvel: researchers have discovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the incoming air it takes in by eighty degrees, allowing the animal to endure in extreme Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to larger than human size, Sara explains, "generates a feeling of smallness that you as a individual are not in control over nature." She is a ex- reporter, writer for kids, and environmental activist, who comes from a pastoral family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Possibly that generates the potential to change your outlook or evoke some humility," she states.

A Tribute to Indigenous Heritage

The winding design is among various elements in Sara's immersive commission showcasing the traditions, science, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi number approximately 100,000 people distributed across the Norwegian north, Finland, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They've experienced persecution, integration policies, and repression of their dialect by all four countries. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the work also spotlights the people's challenges relating to the climate crisis, loss of territory, and colonialism.

Symbolism in Elements

On the long entry ramp, there's a looming, 26-meter formation of pelts ensnared by power and light cables. It represents a symbol for the societal frameworks limiting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part celestial ladder, this section of the exhibit, named Goavve-, refers to the Sámi term for an harsh environmental condition, in which thick coatings of ice develop as fluctuating weather thaw and ice over the snow, encasing the reindeers' key winter nourishment, lichen. The condition is a consequence of climate change, which is taking place up to much more rapidly in the Far North than in other regions.

Three years ago, I traveled to see Sara in a remote town during a icy season and went with Sámi pastoralists on their Arctic vehicles in freezing temperatures as they transported carts of supplementary feed on to the exposed tundra to dispense manually. These animals gathered round us, digging the slippery ground in vain attempts for mossy bits. This expensive and laborious procedure is having a significant impact on herding practices—and on the animals' natural survival. Yet the other option is death. As these icy periods become frequent, reindeer are succumbing—a number from lack of food, others drowning after plunging into streams through prematurely melting ice. On one level, the work is a tribute to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm introducing the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Opposing Worldviews

The installation also emphasizes the stark divergence between the western interpretation of power as a resource to be harnessed for profit and existence and the Sámi outlook of energy as an inherent essence in creatures, humans, and nature. This venue's legacy as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi view as green colonialism by Nordic countries. As they strive to be exemplars for renewable energy, Scandinavian countries have clashed with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, water power facilities, and extraction sites on their ancestral land; the Sámi assert their fundamental freedoms, incomes, and way of life are endangered. "It's very difficult being such a limited population to protect your rights when the arguments are based on saving the world," Sara notes. "Extractivism has adopted the rhetoric of ecology, but nonetheless it's just attempting to find better ways to maintain habits of expenditure."

Family Struggles

Sara and her relatives have themselves conflicted with the state authorities over its ever-stricter rules on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's brother embarked on a set of finally failed lawsuits over the required reduction of his livestock, supposedly to stop overgrazing. As a show of solidarity, Sara developed a extended set of creations named Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal drape of numerous animal bones, which was displayed at the the event Documenta 14 and later acquired by the National Museum of Oslo, where it resides in the entryway.

Art as Advocacy

For numerous Indigenous people, creative work seems the sole sphere in which they can be heard by people of other nations. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|