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Attendees to Tate Modern are used to unusual displays in its spacious Turbine Hall. They've sunbathed under an artificial sun, glided down spiral slides, and witnessed AI-powered sea creatures hovering through the air. But this marks the first time they will be venturing themselves in the complex nose passages of a reindeer. The newest creative installation for this cavernous space—developed by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—invites gallerygoers into a winding construction modeled after the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Upon entering, they can wander around or relax on pelts, listening on headphones to community leaders telling stories and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It could appear quirky, but the installation honors a rarely recognized scientific wonder: experts have found that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can warm the surrounding air it inhales by 80°C, allowing the animal to thrive in extreme Arctic climates. Scaling the nose to larger than human size, Sara explains, "creates a feeling of insignificance that you as a individual are not superior over nature." She is a ex- writer, writer for kids, and land defender, who hails from a herding family in northern Norway. "Perhaps that generates the chance to shift your viewpoint or evoke some humility," she states.

A Tribute to Indigenous Heritage

The labyrinthine installation is among various elements in Sara's immersive art project celebrating the traditions, understanding, and beliefs of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi number roughly 100,000 people distributed across the Norwegian north, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They have experienced persecution, forced assimilation, and repression of their tongue by all four nations. With an emphasis on the reindeer, an creature at the center of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the art also spotlights the group's issues associated with the environmental emergency, loss of territory, and imperialism.

Symbolism in Materials

On the lengthy entrance ramp, there's a soaring, 26-meter structure of reindeer hides trapped by electrical wires. It can be read as a analogy for the political and economic systems constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part spiritual ascent, this section of the exhibit, named Goavve-, relates to the Sámi word for an extreme weather phenomenon, in which solid sheets of ice form as fluctuating conditions melt and ice over the snow, trapping the reindeers' key winter sustenance, moss. The condition is a outcome of climate change, which is happening up to at an accelerated rate in the Far North than in other regions.

Previously, I met with Sara in a remote town during a icy season and joined Sámi reindeer keepers on their motorized sleds in biting cold as they transported carts of animal nutrition on to the barren tundra to distribute through labor. The reindeer gathered round us, scratching the icy ground in vain attempts for vegetative morsels. This costly and laborious process is having a drastic impact on animal rearing—and on the animals' self-sufficiency. Yet the other option is starvation. When such conditions become commonplace, reindeer are succumbing—a number from hunger, others suffocating after falling into water bodies through unstable frozen surfaces. To some extent, the work is a memorial to them. "With the layering of components, in a way I'm transporting the condition to London," says Sara.

Opposing Belief Systems

The sculpture also emphasizes the clear divergence between the industrial understanding of power as a commodity to be utilized for profit and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of life force as an inherent essence in creatures, people, and land. Tate Modern's history as a fossil fuel plant is linked with this, as is what the Sámi view as green colonialism by regional governments. As they strive to be exemplars for renewable energy, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the development of windfarms, river barriers, and mines on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their human rights, livelihoods, and traditions are threatened. "It's very difficult being such a limited population to stand your ground when the arguments are rooted in environmental protection," Sara notes. "Mining practices has co-opted the discourse of sustainability, but yet it's just aiming to find alternative ways to maintain habits of consumption."

Personal Conflicts

Sara and her relatives have personally clashed with the Norwegian government over its tightening regulations on herding. Previously, Sara's brother initiated a set of finally failed legal cases over the required reduction of his animals, ostensibly to stop overgrazing. As a show of solidarity, Sara created a four-year series of pieces named Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal screen of 400 animal bones, which was shown at the the art exhibition Documenta 14 and later obtained by the national institution, where it is displayed in the entrance.

The Role of Art in Awareness

For numerous Indigenous people, art seems the only domain in which they can be heard by outsiders. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|