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Guests to Tate Modern are accustomed to unusual experiences in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an man-made sun, descended down amusement rides, and observed robotic jellyfish floating through the air. But this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nasal passages of a reindeer. The current creative installation for this huge space—created by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes visitors into a labyrinthine design inspired by the expanded interior of a reindeer's nasal passages. Upon entering, they can stroll around or unwind on skins, tuning in on earphones to Sámi elders sharing stories and knowledge.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why choose the nasal structure? It may appear whimsical, but the exhibit pays tribute to a obscure scientific wonder: researchers have uncovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the surrounding air it inhales by eighty degrees, enabling the animal to endure in extreme Arctic climates. Expanding the nose to larger than human size, Sara notes, "produces a perception of inferiority that you as a individual are not in control over nature." She is a former reporter, writer for kids, and rights advocate, who comes from a herding family in northern Norway. "Perhaps that fosters the chance to alter your outlook or spark some modesty," she continues.

An Homage to Traditional Ways

The labyrinthine design is among various features in Sara's absorbing art project honoring the culture, understanding, and philosophy of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi number about 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an territory they call Sápmi). They've experienced discrimination, forced assimilation, and eradication of their tongue by all four countries. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the center of the Sámi mythology and origin tale, the installation also spotlights the group's issues relating to the climate crisis, property rights, and colonialism.

Meaning in Materials

At the lengthy entry ramp, there's a looming, 26-metre sculpture of pelts entangled by power and light cables. It represents a metaphor for the societal frameworks restricting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part heavenly staircase, this part of the artwork, called Goavve-, points to the Sámi name for an extreme weather phenomenon, whereby thick layers of ice form as varying temperatures liquefy and ice over the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary cold-season sustenance, lichen. Goavvi is a result of planetary warming, which is occurring up to at an accelerated rate in the Far North than globally.

A few years back, I traveled to see Sara in a remote town during a icy season and accompanied Sámi herders on their Arctic vehicles in biting cold as they carried carts of food pellets on to the wind-scoured frozen landscape to distribute through labor. The herd crowded round us, pawing the frozen ground in vain attempts for vegetative pieces. This expensive and labour-intensive method is having a significant impact on herding practices—and on the animals' self-sufficiency. However the alternative is starvation. As these icy periods become commonplace, reindeer are succumbing—some from lack of food, others suffocating after falling into streams through prematurely melting ice. In a sense, the art is a monument to them. "By overlapping of materials, in a way I'm bringing the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The sculpture also highlights the sharp difference between the industrial understanding of power as a resource to be harnessed for economic benefit and livelihood and the Sámi outlook of life force as an inherent life force in creatures, people, and the environment. Tate Modern's history as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi see as environmental exploitation by Scandinavian states. While attempting to be standard bearers for sustainable power, these states have disagreed with the Sámi over the construction of windfarms, hydroelectric dams, and mines on their native soil; the Sámi argue their human rights, livelihoods, and way of life are at risk. "It's hard being such a small minority to defend yourself when the arguments are rooted in environmental protection," Sara comments. "Extractivism has co-opted the language of ecology, but still it's just aiming to find more suitable ways to maintain patterns of expenditure."

Individual Struggles

Sara and her family have personally disagreed with the national administration over its ever-stricter rules on herding. In 2016, Sara's sibling undertook a sequence of unsuccessful legal cases over the forced culling of his herd, apparently to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara created a multi-year collection of artworks named Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal drape of 400 animal bones, which was exhibited at the 2017 art exhibition Documenta 14 and later obtained by the national institution, where it resides in the entryway.

Art as Activism

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