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Attendees to the renowned gallery are familiar to surprising encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have sunbathed under an artificial sun, descended down helter skelters, and observed robotic sea creatures drifting through the air. Yet this marks the inaugural time they will be engaging themselves in the intricate nose cavities of a reindeer. The newest artist commission for this huge space—developed by Native Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes gallerygoers into a winding construction based on the enlarged interior of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Inside, they can meander around or relax on pelts, tuning in on earphones to Sámi elders telling narratives and knowledge.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why the nose? It may appear quirky, but the installation pays tribute to a rarely recognized biological feat: scientists have uncovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the surrounding air it inhales by eighty degrees, allowing the creature to thrive in harsh Arctic conditions. Expanding the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara notes, "generates a sense of insignificance that you as a individual are not dominant over nature." The artist is a ex- writer, young adult author, and rights advocate, who comes from a herding family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Perhaps that fosters the potential to shift your viewpoint or spark some modesty," she adds.

A Celebration to Sámi Culture

The labyrinthine installation is part of a elements in Sara's immersive art project showcasing the culture, science, and philosophy of the Sámi, Europe's only Indigenous people. Partially migratory, the Sámi total about 100,000 people distributed across northern Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, forced assimilation, and repression of their language by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi cosmology and founding narrative, the work also draws attention to the group's challenges relating to the global warming, property rights, and colonialism.

Meaning in Elements

On the extended entry ramp, there's a soaring, eighty-five-foot sculpture of pelts trapped by electrical wires. It can be read as a metaphor for the governance and financial structures limiting the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part heavenly staircase, this part of the artwork, named Goavve-, relates to the Sámi word for an extreme weather phenomenon, in which dense layers of ice form as changing weather melt and solidify again the snow, locking in the reindeers' primary winter food, lichen. Goavvi is a outcome of planetary warming, which is occurring up to much more rapidly in the Polar region than elsewhere.

Three years ago, I met with Sara in the Norwegian far north during a goavvi winter and accompanied Sámi pastoralists on their motorized sleds in chilly conditions as they transported trailers of animal nutrition on to the exposed tundra to distribute through labor. The herd surrounded round us, scratching the slippery ground in vain for lichen-covered morsels. This expensive and laborious process is having a severe influence on animal rearing—and on the animals' natural survival. Yet the choice is death. When such conditions become commonplace, reindeer are perishing—a number from lack of food, others submerging after plunging into streams through unstable frozen surfaces. In a sense, the work is a tribute to them. "By overlapping of components, in a way I'm transporting the condition to London," says Sara.

Diverging Worldviews

The sculpture also underscores the stark contrast between the modern understanding of energy as a commodity to be harnessed for economic benefit and survival and the Sámi philosophy of energy as an inherent essence in creatures, individuals, and nature. The gallery's legacy as a coal and oil power station is linked with this, as is what the Sámi see as eco-imperialism by regional governments. As they strive to be standard bearers for renewable energy, Scandinavian countries have clashed with the Sámi over the construction of windfarms, water power facilities, and mines on their native soil; the Sámi contend their human rights, ways of life, and traditions are endangered. "It's challenging being such a tiny group to stand your ground when the justifications are grounded in global sustainability," Sara observes. "Mining practices has co-opted the rhetoric of ecology, but still it's just aiming to find alternative ways to continue patterns of use."

Individual Struggles

She and her kin have themselves clashed with the state authorities over its tightening policies on reindeer management. A few years ago, Sara's sibling embarked on a set of ultimately unsuccessful court actions over the required reduction of his animals, apparently to stop overgrazing. In support, Sara developed a extended collection of artworks titled Pile O'Sápmi featuring a huge screen of four hundred cranial remains, which was displayed at the 2017 event Documenta 14 and later purchased by the National Museum of Oslo, where it resides in the lobby.

The Role of Art in Awareness

For many Sámi, creative work is the sole sphere in which they can be understood by the global community. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|