Delving into this Smell of Apprehension: Máret Ánne Sara Revamps Tate's Turbine Hall with Arctic Deer Inspired Installation

Visitors to Tate Modern are familiar to surprising encounters in its vast Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an artificial sun, descended down amusement rides, and observed AI-powered sea creatures floating through the air. Yet this marks the first time they will be immersing themselves in the intricate nose cavities of a reindeer. The current artist commission for this huge space—developed by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes visitors into a winding construction modeled after the expanded interior of a reindeer's nasal airways. Upon entering, they can meander around or relax on reindeer hides, tuning in on headphones to community leaders imparting stories and wisdom.

Why the Nose?

Why the nose? It might appear whimsical, but the exhibit celebrates a rarely recognized scientific wonder: experts have discovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can raise the temperature of the surrounding air it inhales by 80°C, helping the creature to survive in inhospitable Arctic conditions. Enlarging the nose to bigger than a person, Sara says, "creates a feeling of insignificance that you as a individual are not dominant over nature." Sara is a ex- journalist, writer for kids, and environmental activist, who comes from a reindeer-herding family in the far north of Norway. "Perhaps that generates the possibility to change your perspective or trigger some humility," she continues.

An Homage to Sámi Culture

The winding design 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 count roughly 100,000 people distributed across the Norwegian north, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and Russia's Kola Peninsula (an territory they call Sápmi). They have endured oppression, cultural suppression, and eradication of their dialect by all four countries. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the center of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the installation also spotlights the community's challenges relating to the global warming, land dispossession, and imperialism.

Meaning in Elements

At the lengthy access ramp, there's a soaring, 26-metre sculpture of reindeer hides trapped by electrical wires. It represents a metaphor for the political and economic systems restricting the Sámi. Part pylon, part spiritual ascent, this part of the artwork, titled Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an extreme weather phenomenon, wherein solid sheets of ice develop as varying weather melt and solidify again the snow, trapping the reindeers' primary cold-season nourishment, moss. This phenomenon is a outcome of climate change, which is taking place up to four times faster in the Far North than globally.

Three years ago, I visited Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a severe cold period and went with Sámi herders on their Arctic vehicles in chilly conditions as they hauled trailers of supplementary feed on to the exposed Arctic plains to distribute by hand. The herd gathered round us, scratching the icy ground in vain for lichen-covered bits. This resource-intensive and laborious process is having a drastic effect on animal rearing—and on the animals' self-sufficiency. Yet the alternative is starvation. As goavvi winters become routine, reindeer are succumbing—some from starvation, others suffocating after falling into streams through unstable frozen surfaces. On one level, the work is a tribute to them. "By overlapping of materials, in a way I'm transporting the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Diverging Belief Systems

This artwork also emphasizes the stark contrast between the modern understanding of energy as a commodity to be harnessed for economic benefit and survival and the Sámi outlook of vitality as an natural life force in animals, humans, and land. The gallery's legacy as a industrial facility is connected to this, as is what the Sámi see as eco-imperialism by Scandinavian states. As they strive to be standard bearers for renewable energy, these states have disagreed with the Sámi over the construction of turbine fields, water power facilities, and extraction sites on their native soil; the Sámi argue their human rights, livelihoods, and way of life are threatened. "It's very difficult being such a limited population to protect your rights when the reasons are rooted in environmental protection," Sara comments. "Resource exploitation has appropriated the discourse of environmentalism, but yet it's just striving to find alternative ways to maintain habits of expenditure."

Family Conflicts

Sara and her family have personally clashed with the Norwegian government over its increasingly stringent policies on herding. Previously, Sara's brother initiated a sequence of finally failed legal cases over the mandatory slaughter of his livestock, apparently to stop vegetation depletion. In support, Sara created a multi-year collection of artworks titled Pile O'Sápmi including a huge screen of four hundred animal bones, which was exhibited at the 2017's event Documenta 14 and later obtained by the public gallery, where it resides in the lobby.

Creative Expression as Advocacy

For many Sámi, art seems the only sphere in which they can be listened to by outsiders. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|