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Attendees to Tate Modern are familiar to unexpected experiences in its vast Turbine Hall. They've basked under an man-made sun, descended down helter skelters, and witnessed robotic jellyfish drifting through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nose cavities of a reindeer. The latest artist commission for this huge space—designed by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes visitors into a winding design based on the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Inside, they can stroll around or relax on skins, tuning in on earphones to Sámi elders telling tales and wisdom.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It might appear whimsical, but the artwork celebrates a obscure biological feat: experts have discovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can heat the incoming air it inhales by 80°C, helping the animal to survive in extreme Arctic climates. Enlarging the nose to larger than human size, Sara notes, "produces a feeling of insignificance that you as a human being are not dominant over nature." She is a ex- writer, children's author, and environmental activist, who comes from a reindeer-herding family in the far north of Norway. "Possibly that generates the potential to shift your viewpoint or spark some humility," she continues.

An Homage to Traditional Ways

The maze-like structure is part of a elements in Sara's absorbing commission showcasing the heritage, understanding, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi count roughly 100,000 people spread across the Norwegian north, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and Russia's Kola Peninsula (an region they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, integration policies, and eradication of their tongue by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an animal at the core of the Sámi cosmology and origin tale, the work also draws attention to the people's issues relating to the environmental emergency, property rights, and colonialism.

Meaning in Elements

On the extended entry ramp, there's a towering, 26-metre structure of reindeer hides trapped by power and light cables. It serves as a analogy for the societal frameworks restricting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part heavenly staircase, this part of the artwork, titled Goavve-, relates to the Sámi term for an extreme weather phenomenon, wherein solid layers of ice form as changing weather melt and refreeze the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary cold-season nourishment, lichen. The condition is a result of climate change, which is occurring up to four times faster in the Far North than in other regions.

A few years back, I visited Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a icy season and joined Sámi pastoralists on their snowmobiles in freezing temperatures as they transported containers of food pellets on to the wind-scoured frozen landscape to provide manually. These animals surrounded round us, digging the frozen ground in futility for lichen-covered bits. This expensive and labour-intensive procedure is having a severe impact on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' natural survival. Yet the other option is starvation. As these icy periods become routine, reindeer are dying—a number from hunger, others drowning after plunging into streams through thinning ice sheets. On one level, the work is a memorial to them. "With the layering of components, in a way I'm transporting the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The sculpture also underscores the sharp contrast between the western understanding of power as a commodity to be exploited for gain and existence and the Sámi outlook of life force as an natural life force in animals, humans, and the environment. This venue's past as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi see as environmental exploitation by Scandinavian states. As they strive to be standard bearers for renewable energy, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, river barriers, and extraction sites on their native soil; the Sámi argue their fundamental freedoms, livelihoods, and culture are at risk. "It's hard being such a small minority to protect your rights when the arguments are rooted in environmental protection," Sara notes. "Mining practices has co-opted the language of sustainability, but nonetheless it's just attempting to find more suitable ways to persist in practices of expenditure."

Personal Conflicts

The artist and her kin have themselves conflicted with the Norwegian government over its increasingly stringent policies on reindeer management. A few years ago, Sara's brother embarked on a set of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits over the required reduction of his herd, apparently to stop overgrazing. In support, Sara developed a extended set of creations called Pile O'Sápmi including a huge drape of numerous cranial remains, which was displayed at the the show Documenta 14 and later acquired by the national institution, where it hangs in the entrance.

Art as Advocacy

Among the community, creative work appears the only domain in which they can be heard by outsiders. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|