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Visitors to the renowned gallery are accustomed to surprising displays in its vast Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an artificial sun, descended down spiral slides, and seen robotic sea creatures floating through the air. However this marks the inaugural time they will be immersing themselves in the detailed nasal passages of a reindeer. The current creative installation for this cavernous space—created by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—encourages patrons into a maze-like design based on the expanded interior of a reindeer's nasal airways. Inside, they can wander around or unwind on reindeer hides, tuning in on earphones to Sámi elders sharing narratives and wisdom.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It may appear quirky, but the installation honors a little-known biological feat: researchers have uncovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can warm the incoming air it breathes in by 80 degrees celsius, allowing the animal to endure in extreme Arctic conditions. Scaling the nose to larger than human size, Sara notes, "generates a sense of inferiority that you as a person are not superior over nature." She is a ex- journalist, young adult author, and land defender, who is from a reindeer-herding family in northern Norway. "Perhaps that generates the chance to shift your perspective or evoke some humbleness," she continues.

A Celebration to Sámi Culture

The winding structure is part of a features in Sara's immersive commission showcasing the culture, science, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi total approximately 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Kola region (an region they call Sápmi). They've faced oppression, cultural suppression, and eradication of their language by all four nations. Through highlighting the reindeer, an creature at the core of the Sámi mythology and origin tale, the work also draws attention to the group's challenges associated with the climate crisis, property rights, and imperialism.

Symbolism in Components

On the long access incline, there's a towering, 26-meter structure of reindeer hides trapped by electrical wires. It can be read as a metaphor for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Partly a utility pole, part spiritual ascent, this component of the installation, called Goavve-, points to the Sámi word for an harsh environmental condition, wherein thick layers of ice develop as fluctuating weather melt and ice over the snow, encasing the reindeers' main winter food, fungus. The condition is a consequence of climate change, which is taking place up to four times faster in the Far North than globally.

Previously, I traveled to see Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a severe cold period and accompanied Sámi pastoralists on their motorized sleds in biting cold as they transported trailers of food pellets on to the exposed Arctic plains to provide manually. The herd gathered round us, scratching the icy ground in vain for vegetative bits. This costly and laborious procedure is having a significant effect on herding practices—and on the animals' natural survival. But the other option is death. As these icy periods become frequent, reindeer are succumbing—a number from hunger, others drowning after plunging into water bodies through thinning ice sheets. On one level, the installation is a monument to them. "By overlapping of materials, in a way I'm bringing the condition to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Perspectives

The installation also emphasizes the stark contrast between the modern understanding of power as a asset to be harnessed for economic benefit and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an innate essence in creatures, individuals, and the environment. This venue's history as a industrial facility is linked with this, as is what the Sámi consider environmental exploitation by Scandinavian states. While attempting to be standard bearers for clean sources, these states have clashed with the Sámi over the construction of turbine fields, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their human rights, livelihoods, and way of life are endangered. "It's very difficult being such a small minority to defend yourself when the arguments are grounded in global sustainability," Sara comments. "Mining practices has co-opted the rhetoric of environmentalism, but nonetheless it's just aiming to find alternative ways to continue habits of consumption."

Personal Challenges

Sara and her kin have themselves conflicted with the state authorities over its tightening rules on reindeer management. Previously, Sara's brother initiated a sequence of finally failed legal cases over the forced culling of his livestock, ostensibly to stop excessive feeding. In support, Sara created a extended set of pieces called Pile O'Sápmi comprising a colossal drape of 400 reindeer skulls, which was exhibited at the 2017 art exhibition Documenta 14 and later obtained by the public gallery, where it resides in the entrance.

Art as Awareness

Among the community, creative work appears the only domain in which they can be understood by outsiders. Recently, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|