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Visitors to the renowned gallery are used to unexpected experiences in its vast Turbine Hall. They've sunbathed under an man-made sun, glided down helter skelters, and witnessed AI-powered sea creatures floating through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be engaging themselves in the detailed nose chambers of a reindeer. The latest artist commission for this huge space—created by Indigenous Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—encourages gallerygoers into a labyrinthine structure based on the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nasal passages. Upon entering, they can stroll around or relax on reindeer hides, tuning in on earphones to community leaders sharing stories and insights.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

Why choose the nasal structure? It may seem playful, but the exhibit pays tribute to a obscure biological feat: experts have found that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the ambient air it takes in by eighty degrees, enabling the creature to thrive in extreme Arctic conditions. Enlarging the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara says, "produces a sense of insignificance that you as a human being are not in control over nature." The artist is a former journalist, children's author, and land defender, who comes from a reindeer-herding family in northern Norway. "Maybe that fosters the possibility to change your outlook or spark some humbleness," she states.

A Tribute to Sámi Culture

The maze-like design is part of a features in Sara's engaging commission showcasing the culture, knowledge, and worldview of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi total about 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an region they call Sápmi). They have experienced discrimination, forced assimilation, and eradication of their language by all four countries. With an emphasis on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi cosmology and creation story, the art also draws attention to the community's struggles connected to the global warming, property rights, and colonialism.

Metaphor in Components

At the long access ramp, there's a towering, eighty-five-foot sculpture of pelts trapped by power and light cables. It serves as a analogy for the political and economic systems constraining the Sámi. Part pylon, part celestial ladder, this part of the installation, called Goavve-, points to the Sámi word for an extreme weather phenomenon, in which thick layers of ice develop as fluctuating conditions thaw and refreeze the snow, encasing the reindeers' main winter food, lichen. This phenomenon is a result of climate change, which is occurring up to at an accelerated rate in the Arctic than in other regions.

Previously, I visited Sara in the Norwegian far north during a severe cold period and went with Sámi reindeer keepers on their Arctic vehicles in chilly conditions as they hauled containers of supplementary feed on to the wind-scoured tundra to dispense by hand. The herd crowded round us, pawing the slippery ground in vain attempts for lichen-covered morsels. This resource-intensive and labour-intensive method is having a severe impact on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. However the alternative is starvation. As goavvi winters become routine, reindeer are dying—a number from lack of food, others drowning after falling into water bodies through thinning ice sheets. On one level, the installation is a memorial to them. "By overlapping of elements, in a way I'm bringing the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Diverging Perspectives

The sculpture also emphasizes the stark difference between the western view of electricity as a commodity to be harnessed for gain and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of energy as an natural essence in animals, people, and nature. This venue's history as a coal and oil power station is linked with this, as is what the Sámi see as environmental exploitation by regional governments. While attempting to be standard bearers for sustainable power, these states have disagreed with the Sámi over the building of windfarms, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi contend their human rights, livelihoods, and culture are at risk. "It's challenging being such a limited population to protect your rights when the justifications are rooted in environmental protection," Sara notes. "Resource exploitation has appropriated the rhetoric of sustainability, but yet it's just attempting to find better ways to maintain practices of consumption."

Individual Conflicts

She and her relatives have personally disagreed with the Norwegian government over its tightening regulations on herding. Previously, Sara's brother initiated a sequence of ultimately unsuccessful court actions over the forced culling of his animals, supposedly to stop excessive feeding. To back him, Sara developed a multi-year series of pieces titled Pile O'Sápmi including a colossal drape of four hundred cranial remains, which was displayed at the 2017's show Documenta 14 and later acquired by the national institution, where it is displayed in the entryway.

The Role of Art in Awareness

For numerous Indigenous people, visual expression seems the exclusive realm in which they can be listened to by the global community. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|