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Visitors to the renowned gallery are accustomed to surprising experiences in its vast Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an simulated sun, slid down spiral slides, and seen AI-powered sea creatures drifting through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be immersing themselves in the complex nose passages of a reindeer. The newest artistic project for this cavernous space—created by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes patrons into a winding construction based on the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nasal cavities. Inside, they can stroll around or relax on reindeer hides, listening on earphones to community leaders imparting stories and wisdom.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why choose the nasal structure? It could appear whimsical, but the installation celebrates a little-known scientific wonder: researchers have found that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the surrounding air it breathes in by 80°C, allowing the creature to thrive in extreme Arctic conditions. Expanding the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara says, "creates a sense of inferiority that you as a individual are not dominant over nature." Sara is a ex- reporter, young adult author, and environmental activist, who is from a herding family in the far north of Norway. "Maybe that fosters the chance to alter your outlook or trigger some modesty," she continues.

A Tribute to Indigenous Heritage

The labyrinthine design is one of several features in Sara's immersive exhibition showcasing the heritage, science, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Partially migratory, the Sámi total roughly 100,000 people distributed across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an area they call Sápmi). They have endured oppression, integration policies, and eradication of their tongue by all four countries. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the core of the Sámi cosmology and origin tale, the art also spotlights the group's struggles relating to the climate crisis, loss of territory, and imperialism.

Meaning in Materials

On the long entrance incline, there's a looming, 26-meter formation of skins trapped by power and light cables. It represents a analogy for the governance and financial structures constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part heavenly staircase, this section of the artwork, called Goavve-, relates to the Sámi term for an extreme weather phenomenon, wherein thick layers of ice develop as fluctuating weather melt and solidify again the snow, encasing the reindeers' key winter food, fungus. This phenomenon is a consequence of climate change, which is taking place up to at an accelerated rate in the Far North than elsewhere.

Previously, I met with Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a goavvi winter and joined Sámi herders on their snowmobiles in biting cold as they transported containers of food pellets on to the wind-scoured frozen landscape to dispense manually. The reindeer crowded round us, scratching the frozen ground in vain attempts for vegetative pieces. This expensive and demanding method is having a drastic influence on herding practices—and on the animals' natural survival. But the choice is malnutrition. As these icy periods become frequent, reindeer are dying—a number from hunger, others suffocating after falling into lakes and rivers through prematurely melting ice. On one level, the installation is a memorial to them. "With the layering of materials, in a way I'm bringing the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Worldviews

This artwork also highlights the stark contrast between the western view of electricity as a commodity to be utilized for economic benefit and existence and the Sámi philosophy of life force as an natural essence in animals, humans, and the environment. This venue's legacy as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi view as eco-imperialism by regional governments. While attempting to be standard bearers for clean sources, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the building of wind energy projects, river barriers, and mines on their ancestral land; the Sámi argue their legal protections, incomes, and traditions are at risk. "It's hard being such a tiny group to defend yourself when the reasons are based on environmental protection," Sara notes. "Resource exploitation has appropriated the rhetoric of sustainability, but yet it's just aiming to find more suitable ways to persist in practices of use."

Family Struggles

Sara and her relatives have personally disagreed with the state authorities over its increasingly stringent regulations on reindeer management. A few years ago, Sara's brother undertook a sequence of ultimately unsuccessful court actions over the required reduction of his animals, supposedly to stop excessive feeding. To back him, Sara created a four-year series of artworks called Pile O'Sápmi comprising a huge curtain of numerous animal bones, which was exhibited at the the event Documenta 14 and later acquired by the national institution, where it resides in the lobby.

The Role of Art in Advocacy

Among the community, art is the exclusive domain in which they can be heard by the global community. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|