Delving into the Aroma of Apprehension: Máret Ánne Sara Reimagines The Gallery's Exhibition Space with Reindeer Influenced Exhibit

Visitors to Tate Modern are used to surprising displays in its vast Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an man-made sun, slid down spiral slides, and observed automated sea creatures floating through the air. But this marks the first time they will be engaging themselves in the complex nasal passages of a reindeer. The current artist commission for this cavernous space—created by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—invites visitors into a labyrinthine structure modeled after the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nasal passages. Once inside, they can meander around or unwind on skins, tuning in on headphones to tribal seniors sharing narratives and insights.

Why the Nose?

What's the focus on the nose? It may seem playful, but the installation pays tribute to a obscure natural marvel: researchers have discovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can warm the ambient air it takes in by eighty degrees, helping the animal to survive in harsh Arctic climates. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara explains, "produces a feeling of smallness that you as a individual are not superior over nature." She is a ex- journalist, young adult author, and environmental activist, who comes from a herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Possibly that generates the possibility to shift your outlook or trigger some humility," she adds.

A Tribute to Sámi Culture

The winding design is part of a features in Sara's absorbing commission celebrating the traditions, knowledge, and philosophy of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Partially migratory, the Sámi total approximately 100,000 people distributed across northern Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They've faced oppression, forced assimilation, and repression of their dialect by all four nations. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the installation also draws attention to the community's struggles relating to the climate crisis, loss of territory, and imperialism.

Metaphor in Components

Along the extended access incline, there's a towering, 26-meter formation of skins ensnared by power and light cables. It serves as a symbol for the governance and financial structures constraining the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part celestial ladder, this component of the exhibit, called Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an severe climatic event, wherein dense layers of ice appear as fluctuating temperatures liquefy and refreeze the snow, trapping the reindeers' main cold-season nourishment, lichen. The condition is a consequence of planetary warming, which is happening up to at an accelerated rate in the Polar region than globally.

Previously, I met with Sara in the Norwegian far north during a icy season and joined Sámi pastoralists on their Arctic vehicles in biting cold as they carried carts of animal nutrition on to the exposed Arctic plains to provide by hand. These animals surrounded round us, pawing the icy ground in vain for vegetative morsels. This resource-intensive and labour-intensive process is having a significant effect on animal rearing—and on the animals' independence. Yet the other option is death. As these icy periods become routine, reindeer are succumbing—a number from starvation, others drowning after falling into lakes and rivers through unstable frozen surfaces. To some extent, the installation is a monument to them. "With the layering of elements, in a way I'm bringing the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Worldviews

The sculpture also emphasizes the clear contrast between the modern view of energy as a commodity to be utilized for economic benefit and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of energy as an innate essence in animals, individuals, and the environment. Tate Modern's history as a coal and oil power station is connected to this, as is what the Sámi view as eco-imperialism by regional governments. As they strive to be exemplars for renewable energy, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their native soil; the Sámi contend their legal protections, livelihoods, and traditions are endangered. "It's very difficult being such a limited population to stand your ground when the justifications are based on saving the world," Sara notes. "Mining practices has appropriated the language of ecology, but still it's just aiming to find more suitable ways to continue habits of use."

Family Struggles

Sara and her relatives have personally disagreed with the Norwegian government over its increasingly stringent rules on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's sibling embarked on a set of finally failed court actions over the required reduction of his livestock, ostensibly to stop overgrazing. In support, Sara created a four-year set of pieces titled Pile O'Sápmi including a colossal drape of 400 cranial remains, which was displayed at the the art exhibition Documenta 14 and later obtained by the public gallery, where it hangs in the entrance.

Art as Awareness

Among the community, art appears the only domain in which they can be listened to by the global community. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|