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Visitors to the renowned gallery are familiar to surprising encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They've basked under an man-made sun, slid down spiral slides, and seen automated sea creatures drifting through the air. Yet this marks the first time they will be immersing themselves in the detailed nasal passages of a reindeer. The newest artist commission for this huge space—designed by Native Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—encourages patrons into a labyrinthine structure inspired by the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nose airways. Inside, they can stroll around or chill out on reindeer hides, tuning in on earphones to Sámi elders telling narratives and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why the nose? It may sound whimsical, but the artwork pays tribute to a obscure natural marvel: researchers have uncovered that in under a second, the reindeer's nose can heat the surrounding air it inhales by eighty degrees, enabling the creature to thrive in harsh Arctic temperatures. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara says, "generates a perception of inferiority that you as a human being are not superior over nature." She is a ex- reporter, young adult author, and environmental activist, who hails from a herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Possibly that generates the chance to change your perspective or evoke some modesty," she adds.

A Celebration to Indigenous Heritage

The winding installation is one of several features in Sara's absorbing art project showcasing the traditions, knowledge, and beliefs of the Sámi, Europe's only Indigenous people. Partially migratory, the Sámi total about 100,000 people distributed across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, forced assimilation, and repression of their dialect by all four countries. By focusing on the reindeer, an animal at the heart of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the art also draws attention to the people's struggles associated with the environmental emergency, loss of territory, and external control.

Symbolism in Components

At the long entry slope, there's a towering, 26-metre formation of pelts entangled by power and light cables. It can be read as a analogy for the governance and financial structures restricting the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part heavenly staircase, this component of the exhibit, called Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an extreme weather phenomenon, in which solid sheets of ice form as changing conditions thaw and solidify again the snow, locking in the reindeers' primary winter nourishment, lichen. This phenomenon is a outcome of climate change, which is occurring up to four times faster in the Far North than elsewhere.

Previously, I visited Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a icy season and went with Sámi reindeer keepers on their Arctic vehicles in freezing temperatures as they transported trailers of animal nutrition on to the exposed tundra to distribute manually. These animals crowded round us, digging the frozen ground in vain attempts for mossy bits. This resource-intensive and laborious method is having a significant effect on animal rearing—and on the animals' independence. But the alternative is malnutrition. As these icy periods become routine, reindeer are dying—a number from starvation, others drowning after plunging into lakes and rivers through prematurely melting ice. In a sense, the work is a memorial to them. "With the layering of materials, in a way I'm introducing the condition to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The sculpture also highlights the clear contrast between the western understanding of energy as a asset to be exploited for profit and livelihood and the Sámi worldview of energy as an innate power in creatures, humans, and the environment. Tate Modern's history as a coal and oil power station is connected to this, as is what the Sámi consider eco-imperialism by regional governments. While attempting to be exemplars for renewable energy, these states have locked horns with the Sámi over the construction of wind energy projects, hydroelectric dams, and extraction sites on their ancestral land; the Sámi contend their legal protections, ways of life, and traditions are endangered. "It's very difficult being such a small minority to defend yourself when the arguments are grounded in global sustainability," Sara comments. "Mining practices has adopted the language of ecology, but yet it's just aiming to find alternative ways to maintain habits of use."

Family Struggles

Sara and her family have personally conflicted with the state authorities over its ever-stricter policies on reindeer management. A few years ago, Sara's brother undertook a set of finally failed lawsuits over the required reduction of his herd, apparently to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara created a extended collection of artworks named Pile O'Sápmi featuring a colossal screen of numerous animal bones, which was shown at the the event Documenta 14 and later obtained by the National Museum of Oslo, where it hangs in the entryway.

Art as Awareness

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