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Guests to Tate Modern are used to surprising displays in its expansive Turbine Hall. They've relaxed under an man-made sun, glided down amusement rides, and seen automated sea creatures hovering through the air. Yet this marks the first time they will be immersing themselves in the intricate nose passages of a reindeer. The current creative installation for this immense space—designed by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—encourages gallerygoers into a maze-like construction inspired by the scaled-up interior of a reindeer's nose airways. Upon entering, they can meander around or relax on pelts, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors telling stories and wisdom.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why the nose? It may appear whimsical, but the installation honors a rarely recognized biological feat: researchers have uncovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the incoming air it takes in by 80 degrees celsius, allowing the animal to endure in harsh Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to larger than human size, Sara says, "produces a feeling of smallness that you as a human being are not in control over nature." Sara is a ex- writer, young adult author, and rights advocate, who is from a herding family in the far north of Norway. "Possibly that generates the possibility to alter your perspective or spark some humility," she states.

A Celebration to Sámi Culture

The maze-like structure is part of a features in Sara's engaging commission celebrating the heritage, understanding, and worldview of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Partially migratory, the Sámi count roughly 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an region they call Sápmi). They've faced oppression, cultural suppression, and repression of their language by all four nations. By focusing on the reindeer, an animal at the center of the Sámi belief system and origin tale, the work also spotlights the community's challenges associated with the global warming, property rights, and imperialism.

Symbolism in Materials

At the extended entry slope, there's a towering, 26-metre formation of skins trapped by electrical wires. It can be read as a metaphor for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part spiritual ascent, this section of the artwork, titled Goavve-, relates to the Sámi word for an severe climatic event, whereby thick sheets of ice form as fluctuating conditions thaw and ice over the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary cold-season nourishment, lichen. Goavvi is a consequence of climate change, which is occurring up to much more rapidly in the Far North than elsewhere.

Three years ago, I met with Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a severe cold period and went with Sámi pastoralists on their snowmobiles in biting cold as they carried trailers of food pellets on to the barren tundra to dispense by hand. These animals crowded round us, pawing the frozen ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered bits. This costly and labour-intensive method is having a drastic impact on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' independence. However the alternative is malnutrition. As goavvi winters become frequent, reindeer are perishing—a number from lack of food, others drowning after falling into streams through prematurely melting ice. To some extent, the installation is a monument to them. "With the layering of elements, in a way I'm transporting the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The installation also underscores the clear difference between the industrial interpretation of energy as a asset to be harnessed for profit and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an natural power in animals, humans, and nature. This venue's past as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi view as eco-imperialism by regional governments. In their efforts to be leaders for clean sources, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the construction of turbine fields, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their ancestral land; the Sámi contend their legal protections, incomes, and traditions are threatened. "It's challenging being such a small minority to protect your rights when the justifications are based on environmental protection," Sara notes. "Mining practices has co-opted the language of environmentalism, but yet it's just striving to find alternative ways to persist in practices of use."

Individual Struggles

The artist and her family have personally disagreed with the state authorities over its increasingly stringent rules on reindeer management. Previously, Sara's sibling embarked on a series of finally failed court actions over the mandatory slaughter of his herd, supposedly to stop overgrazing. As a show of solidarity, Sara developed a extended set of pieces called Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal drape of 400 reindeer skulls, which was exhibited at the 2017's event Documenta 14 and later acquired by the National Museum of Oslo, where it hangs in the lobby.

Art as Activism

For numerous Indigenous people, visual expression is the sole realm in which they can be listened to by the global community. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|