Guests to Tate Modern are used to surprising encounters in its vast Turbine Hall. They've basked under an man-made sun, descended down spiral slides, and seen robotic jellyfish floating through the air. But this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nasal cavities of a reindeer. The current artistic project for this cavernous space—created by Native Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes visitors into a labyrinthine design modeled after the expanded interior of a reindeer's nose cavities. Once inside, they can stroll around or chill out on pelts, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors telling stories and knowledge.
Focus on the Nasal Passages
What's the focus on the nose? It could seem whimsical, but the artwork honors a rarely recognized biological feat: researchers have uncovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can warm the ambient air it inhales by 80 degrees celsius, allowing the creature to survive in harsh Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to larger than human size, Sara says, "creates a sense of inferiority that you as a human being are not dominant over nature." She is a ex- journalist, children's author, and environmental activist, who is from a pastoral family in northern Norway. "Perhaps that creates the chance to alter your viewpoint or evoke some humbleness," she adds.
An Homage to Indigenous Heritage
The winding installation is part of a features in Sara's immersive exhibition showcasing the traditions, knowledge, and worldview of the Sámi, the continent's original inhabitants. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi count approximately 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an territory they call Sápmi). They have endured oppression, cultural suppression, and eradication of their language by all four countries. With an emphasis on the reindeer, an creature at the center of the Sámi cosmology and origin tale, the installation also spotlights the people's challenges associated with the global warming, property rights, and colonialism.
Meaning in Elements
On the extended entry slope, there's a looming, eighty-five-foot structure of pelts trapped by utility lines. It can be read as a symbol for the political and economic systems constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part celestial ladder, this section of the exhibit, called Goavve-, points to the Sámi word for an severe climatic event, wherein thick layers of ice develop as fluctuating weather thaw and ice over the snow, locking in the reindeers' main cold-season food, fungus. The condition is a consequence of planetary warming, which is taking place up to much more rapidly in the Polar region than globally.
Previously, I met with Sara in the Norwegian far north during a severe cold period and joined Sámi herders on their motorized sleds in chilly conditions as they carried containers of animal nutrition on to the wind-scoured tundra to provide through labor. These animals crowded round us, pawing the slippery ground in vain for mossy morsels. This costly and laborious procedure is having a severe effect on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' natural survival. However the alternative is starvation. When such conditions become commonplace, reindeer are perishing—a number from lack of food, others submerging after falling into lakes and rivers through thinning ice sheets. On one level, the installation is a memorial to them. "By overlapping of components, in a way I'm bringing the condition to London," says Sara.
Contrasting Perspectives
The sculpture also highlights the sharp difference between the modern view of electricity as a commodity to be exploited for economic benefit and livelihood and the Sámi worldview of life force as an inherent power in animals, individuals, and land. The gallery's past as a coal and oil power station is linked with this, as is what the Sámi view as green colonialism by regional governments. While attempting to be exemplars for renewable energy, Nordic nations have disagreed with the Sámi over the development of turbine fields, river barriers, and mines on their native soil; the Sámi argue their legal protections, livelihoods, and traditions are threatened. "It's challenging being such a tiny group to defend yourself when the arguments are grounded in environmental protection," Sara observes. "Resource exploitation has adopted the discourse of environmentalism, but nonetheless it's just aiming to find more suitable ways to maintain patterns of expenditure."
Personal Struggles
Sara and her family have personally conflicted with the state authorities over its increasingly stringent regulations on animal husbandry. A few years ago, Sara's brother initiated a sequence of finally failed lawsuits over the required reduction of his herd, apparently to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara created a multi-year series of creations named Pile O'Sápmi including a massive screen of numerous animal bones, which was displayed at the 2017 event Documenta 14 and later acquired by the public gallery, where it resides in the entryway.
The Role of Art in Advocacy
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