Máret Ánne Sara, a Northern Sámi artist and author, has been awarded the 2025 Turbine Hall Commission at Tate Modern. Sara’s work, which explores global ecological issues through the lens of her Sámi community, will be on display from October 14, 2025, to April 6, 2026. Sara’s art addresses the effects of Nordic colonialism on Sámi ways of life.
She emphasizes the importance of preserving Sámi ancestral knowledge and values to protect the environment for future generations. Tate Modern director Karin Hindsbo praised Sara, saying, “Máret Ánne Sara is among a prolific group of Sámi artists who have received widespread international attention in recent years for making visible the issues facing Sápmi and Sámi people.”
Born in 1983 to a Sámi reindeer herding family in Guovdageaidnu, Norway, Sara incorporates materials and methodologies derived from reindeer herding into her artistic practice. She has showcased her work at significant exhibitions, including Documenta 14 and the Fifty-Ninth Venice Biennale.
máret Ánne Sara’s ecological reflections
One of Sara’s notable works, “Pile o’ Sápmi,” featured hundreds of reindeer skulls hung in a curtain at Documenta 14 in 2017. The installation commented on the cull decreed by the Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act, which is contrary to Sámi traditions.
Another prominent installation, “Ale suova sielu sáiget,” presented at the Venice Biennale, featured a rotating carousel of cured red reindeer calves and dried plants from the tundra. This work addressed the impact of climate change on both the animals and the Sámi people. Sara’s upcoming commission at the Turbine Hall is highly anticipated and expected to continue her tradition of addressing critical social, ecological, and political concerns through thought-provoking art.
The collaboration also coincides with extended funding from Hyundai Motor, securing long-term backing for both the Turbine Hall commissions and the museum’s Transnational Research Centre.