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Attendees to Tate Modern are accustomed to surprising encounters in its vast Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an man-made sun, descended down helter skelters, and witnessed automated sea creatures hovering through the air. Yet this marks the inaugural time they will be engaging themselves in the detailed nasal cavities of a reindeer. The latest creative installation for this cavernous space—designed by Native Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—encourages patrons into a labyrinthine design modeled after the expanded inside of a reindeer's nasal passages. Inside, they can meander around or unwind on skins, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors imparting narratives and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

What's the focus on the nose? It may appear whimsical, but the artwork pays tribute to a rarely recognized scientific wonder: researchers have discovered that in under a second, the reindeer's nose can heat the ambient air it takes in by 80°C, helping the animal to endure in harsh Arctic climates. Scaling the nose to larger than human size, Sara notes, "creates a perception of insignificance that you as a person are not superior over nature." The artist is a ex- journalist, children's author, and environmental activist, who hails from a reindeer-herding family in northern Norway. "Maybe that generates the chance to shift your perspective or evoke some humility," she states.

An Homage to Traditional Ways

The winding installation is one of several elements in Sara's engaging commission showcasing the heritage, understanding, and beliefs of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi total approximately 100,000 people ranged across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They have endured persecution, forced assimilation, and suppression of their tongue by all four countries. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the heart of the Sámi belief system and origin tale, the work also spotlights the group's issues relating to the global warming, loss of territory, and external control.

Metaphor in Materials

Along the extended entrance incline, there's a soaring, 26-meter formation of reindeer hides entangled by utility lines. It can be read as a metaphor for the political and economic systems constraining the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part heavenly staircase, this section of the installation, called Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an harsh environmental condition, in which solid layers of ice form as changing weather thaw and refreeze the snow, locking in the reindeers' primary winter food, moss. Goavvi is a result of global heating, which is happening up to at an accelerated rate in the Polar region than globally.

A few years back, I visited Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a goavvi winter and went with Sámi herders on their motorized sleds in chilly conditions as they hauled carts of food pellets on to the barren Arctic plains to provide by hand. These animals crowded round us, scratching the icy ground in futility for lichen-covered pieces. This costly and laborious procedure is having a severe influence on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' self-sufficiency. However the other option is death. When such conditions become frequent, reindeer are dying—a number from starvation, others submerging after sinking in lakes and rivers through prematurely melting ice. In a sense, the work is a monument to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm transporting the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Opposing Belief Systems

This artwork also emphasizes the sharp difference between the modern interpretation of electricity as a commodity to be utilized for gain and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an natural power in creatures, people, and the environment. The gallery's past as a coal and oil power station is linked with this, as is what the Sámi view as eco-imperialism by regional governments. As they strive to be standard bearers for clean sources, Scandinavian countries have locked horns with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, water power facilities, and mines on their traditional territory; the Sámi argue their fundamental freedoms, livelihoods, and way of life are threatened. "It's very difficult being such a limited population to defend yourself when the reasons are based on saving the world," Sara comments. "Mining practices has appropriated the discourse of sustainability, but still it's just striving to find more suitable ways to continue habits of use."

Family Struggles

The artist and her relatives have personally disagreed with the Norwegian government over its ever-stricter regulations on herding. In 2016, Sara's sibling initiated a set of unsuccessful lawsuits over the mandatory slaughter of his herd, apparently to stop vegetation depletion. In support, Sara produced a four-year set of pieces titled Pile O'Sápmi comprising a huge screen of numerous reindeer skulls, which was shown at the 2017's art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the national institution, where it resides in the entrance.

The Role of Art in Advocacy

For many Sámi, art is the exclusive realm in which they can be heard by people of other nations. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|