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Visitors to the renowned gallery are accustomed to unusual encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They've sunbathed under an man-made sun, slid down spiral slides, and seen robotic jellyfish floating through the air. But this marks the inaugural time they will be venturing themselves in the detailed nose cavities of a reindeer. The newest artistic project for this huge space—designed by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—invites visitors into a maze-like design modeled after the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nose cavities. Upon entering, they can meander around or unwind on skins, listening on earphones to tribal seniors sharing narratives and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

What's the focus on the nose? It may sound whimsical, but the artwork pays tribute to a rarely recognized biological feat: scientists have found that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can heat the surrounding air it takes in by 80°C, helping the animal to survive in extreme Arctic conditions. Expanding the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara notes, "produces a feeling of smallness that you as a human being are not in control over nature." She is a ex- writer, children's author, and land defender, who hails from a herding family in the far north of Norway. "Possibly that generates the chance to alter your outlook or trigger some humility," she adds.

A Celebration to Indigenous Heritage

The maze-like structure is among various components in Sara's immersive exhibition honoring the heritage, science, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Partially migratory, the Sámi total roughly 100,000 people spread across northern Norway, the Finnish Arctic, Sweden, and the Russian Arctic (an territory they call Sápmi). They've endured discrimination, forced assimilation, and repression of their dialect by all four countries. Through highlighting the reindeer, an animal at the core of the Sámi mythology and creation story, the work also draws attention to the group's challenges associated with the environmental emergency, loss of territory, and external control.

Meaning in Elements

Along the long access incline, there's a looming, 26-metre formation of skins entangled by electrical wires. It serves as a metaphor for the societal frameworks restricting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part heavenly staircase, this section of the artwork, titled Goavve-, relates to the Sámi name for an extreme weather phenomenon, whereby dense sheets of ice appear as changing temperatures thaw and refreeze the snow, trapping the reindeers' main winter nourishment, moss. The condition is a outcome of planetary warming, which is occurring up to at an accelerated rate in the Far North than elsewhere.

Previously, I traveled to see Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a icy season and joined Sámi pastoralists on their Arctic vehicles in chilly conditions as they hauled trailers of food pellets on to the wind-scoured frozen landscape to distribute manually. These animals crowded round us, pawing the icy ground in vain for mossy pieces. This costly and demanding procedure is having a drastic influence on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' natural survival. Yet the choice is starvation. When such conditions become routine, reindeer are perishing—a number from lack of food, others submerging after sinking in water bodies through thinning ice sheets. In a sense, the work is a tribute to them. "Through the stacking of elements, in a way I'm introducing the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Worldviews

The sculpture also highlights the clear contrast between the western view of power as a commodity to be exploited for gain and existence and the Sámi worldview of vitality as an inherent power in creatures, individuals, and the environment. This venue's past as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi consider green colonialism by regional governments. As they strive to be leaders for clean sources, Scandinavian countries have disagreed with the Sámi over the development of windfarms, river barriers, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi assert their fundamental freedoms, livelihoods, and traditions are at risk. "It's hard being such a limited population to stand your ground when the reasons are based on environmental protection," Sara comments. "Mining practices has co-opted the discourse of sustainability, but still it's just aiming to find more suitable ways to persist in patterns of use."

Individual Challenges

She and her kin have themselves clashed with the Norwegian government over its ever-stricter regulations on reindeer management. Previously, Sara's sibling embarked on a sequence of unsuccessful lawsuits over the required reduction of his herd, apparently to stop vegetation depletion. In support, Sara developed a multi-year set of artworks titled Pile O'Sápmi comprising a huge curtain of numerous cranial remains, which was displayed at the 2017 show Documenta 14 and later acquired by the National Museum of Oslo, where it hangs in the entrance.

The Role of Art in Activism

For many Sámi, creative work appears the exclusive sphere in which they can be understood by people of other nations. In 2022, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|