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Attendees to the renowned gallery are accustomed to unexpected experiences in its vast Turbine Hall. They've relaxed under an simulated sun, descended down amusement rides, and observed AI-powered jellyfish drifting through the air. But this marks the first time they will be immersing themselves in the detailed nose cavities of a reindeer. The latest creative installation for this immense space—created by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—encourages patrons into a winding structure modeled after the expanded inside of a reindeer's nasal airways. Inside, they can meander around or relax on pelts, listening on earphones to tribal seniors sharing stories and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

What's the focus on the nose? It could seem quirky, but the artwork celebrates a little-known natural marvel: scientists have found that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can warm the surrounding air it breathes in by 80°C, allowing the creature to endure in extreme Arctic temperatures. Scaling the nose to bigger than a person, Sara says, "produces a perception of insignificance that you as a person are not in control over nature." She is a ex- journalist, children's author, and land defender, who is from a reindeer-herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Perhaps that creates the chance to change your perspective or spark some humbleness," she continues.

A Celebration to Traditional Ways

The winding design is one of several features in Sara's absorbing exhibition celebrating the culture, knowledge, and worldview of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi total roughly 100,000 people spread across the Norwegian north, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an region they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, cultural suppression, and repression of their language by all four countries. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the heart of the Sámi belief system and creation story, the installation also highlights the community's struggles associated with the climate crisis, loss of territory, and imperialism.

Symbolism in Components

Along the long entry ramp, there's a soaring, 26-meter structure of reindeer hides trapped by utility lines. It can be read as a analogy for the political and economic systems restricting the Sámi. Part pylon, part heavenly staircase, this section of the artwork, named Goavve-, relates to the Sámi term for an severe climatic event, in which dense coatings of ice develop as changing temperatures thaw and ice over the snow, locking in the reindeers' main cold-season food, fungus. This phenomenon is a consequence of planetary warming, which is happening up to four times faster in the Far North than in other regions.

Three years ago, I visited Sara in a remote town during a severe cold period and joined Sámi pastoralists on their snowmobiles in biting cold as they transported trailers of animal nutrition on to the barren tundra to distribute by hand. The reindeer crowded round us, digging the slippery ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered bits. This costly and labour-intensive process is having a significant influence on herding practices—and on the animals' natural survival. However the alternative is death. As these icy periods become frequent, reindeer are perishing—some from lack of food, others drowning after plunging into water bodies through thinning ice sheets. To some extent, the work is a monument to them. "Through the stacking of materials, in a way I'm introducing the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Opposing Perspectives

The installation also emphasizes the clear divergence between the modern view of energy as a resource to be harnessed for gain and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an inherent power in animals, humans, and nature. Tate Modern's legacy as a fossil fuel plant is connected to this, as is what the Sámi consider green colonialism by Scandinavian states. As they strive to be leaders for sustainable power, these states have locked horns with the Sámi over the construction of turbine fields, water power facilities, and digging operations on their native soil; the Sámi argue their legal protections, livelihoods, and culture are at risk. "It's very difficult being such a limited population to protect your rights when the justifications are based on saving the world," Sara notes. "Extractivism has co-opted the discourse of environmentalism, but nonetheless it's just aiming to find better ways to persist in habits of expenditure."

Individual Conflicts

Sara and her relatives have personally disagreed with the national administration over its tightening policies on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's sibling embarked on a sequence of unsuccessful legal cases over the mandatory slaughter of his animals, ostensibly to stop excessive feeding. To back him, Sara produced a multi-year collection of artworks called Pile O'Sápmi featuring a massive drape of four hundred animal bones, which was shown at the 2017's art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the national institution, where it is displayed in the entrance.

Creative Expression as Activism

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