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Guests to Tate Modern are accustomed to unusual experiences in its spacious Turbine Hall. They've sunbathed under an man-made sun, glided down helter skelters, and witnessed AI-powered sea creatures hovering through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nasal passages of a reindeer. The newest creative installation for this cavernous space—developed by Indigenous Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—invites patrons into a maze-like structure based on the expanded inside of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Inside, they can stroll around or unwind on pelts, listening on earphones to community leaders imparting tales and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It might seem playful, but the exhibit celebrates a little-known biological feat: scientists have discovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the ambient air it inhales by eighty degrees, enabling the animal to survive in extreme Arctic temperatures. Scaling the nose to bigger than a person, Sara explains, "produces a perception of insignificance that you as a human being are not dominant over nature." She is a former writer, children's author, and environmental activist, who hails from a reindeer-herding family in the far north of Norway. "Possibly that fosters the possibility to shift your viewpoint or trigger some humbleness," she adds.

A Tribute to Indigenous Heritage

The winding structure is among various features in Sara's immersive exhibition showcasing the traditions, understanding, and beliefs of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Partially migratory, the Sámi total roughly 100,000 people ranged across the Norwegian north, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Kola region (an territory they call Sápmi). They have faced persecution, forced assimilation, and eradication of their tongue by all four states. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the heart of the Sámi belief system and creation story, the work also highlights the people's struggles relating to the global warming, land dispossession, and external control.

Metaphor in Elements

At the lengthy access incline, there's a looming, 26-metre sculpture of reindeer hides entangled by electrical wires. It serves as a metaphor for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part celestial ladder, this part of the exhibit, called Goavve-, points to the Sámi word for an extreme weather phenomenon, whereby dense sheets of ice develop as varying conditions liquefy and ice over the snow, locking in the reindeers' key cold-season nourishment, lichen. Goavvi is a consequence of global heating, which is happening up to four times faster in the Polar region than elsewhere.

Three years ago, I met with Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a goavvi winter and accompanied Sámi herders on their Arctic vehicles in biting cold as they hauled carts of supplementary feed on to the barren Arctic plains to distribute by hand. The reindeer gathered round us, scratching the frozen ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered morsels. This expensive and labour-intensive method is having a significant effect on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' independence. However the alternative is malnutrition. As goavvi winters become commonplace, reindeer are succumbing—some from starvation, others suffocating after sinking in streams through prematurely melting ice. In a sense, the work is a tribute to them. "By overlapping of elements, in a way I'm introducing the condition to London," says Sara.

Opposing Perspectives

The sculpture also underscores the stark divergence between the western understanding of power as a asset to be exploited for economic benefit and existence and the Sámi philosophy of life force as an natural power in creatures, individuals, and the environment. This venue's past as a industrial facility is linked with this, as is what the Sámi view as green colonialism by Nordic countries. While attempting to be leaders for clean sources, Scandinavian countries have clashed with the Sámi over the building of wind energy projects, river barriers, and extraction sites on their traditional territory; the Sámi assert their human rights, ways of life, and way of life are at risk. "It's challenging being such a tiny group to stand your ground when the reasons are rooted in global sustainability," Sara comments. "Extractivism has adopted the discourse of environmentalism, but still it's just attempting to find better ways to continue practices of expenditure."

Family Conflicts

She and her kin have themselves conflicted with the national administration over its tightening policies on reindeer management. Previously, Sara's sibling initiated a set of finally failed lawsuits over the forced culling of his herd, ostensibly to stop excessive feeding. To back him, Sara developed a multi-year series of creations called Pile O'Sápmi featuring a huge curtain of 400 cranial remains, which was exhibited at the the art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the public gallery, where it hangs in the entryway.

Art as Activism

For many Sámi, creative work is the only realm in which they can be understood by the global community. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|