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Visitors to the renowned gallery are used to unexpected experiences in its vast Turbine Hall. They have basked under an simulated sun, glided down helter skelters, and witnessed robotic sea creatures drifting through the air. Yet this marks the first time they will be immersing themselves in the detailed nose passages of a reindeer. The current artist commission for this huge space—developed by Native Sámi creator Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes patrons into a winding structure based on the enlarged interior of a reindeer's nose airways. Upon entering, they can wander around or relax on pelts, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors imparting stories and insights.

Focus on the Nasal Passages

What's the focus on the nose? It could seem quirky, but the installation pays tribute to a rarely recognized natural marvel: researchers have uncovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can warm the incoming air it takes in by 80°C, allowing the creature to endure in inhospitable Arctic temperatures. Enlarging the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara says, "generates a sense of smallness that you as a individual are not superior over nature." The artist is a ex- writer, writer for kids, and rights advocate, who comes from a pastoral family in northern Norway. "Perhaps that fosters the potential to alter your viewpoint or evoke some humility," she states.

A Tribute to Indigenous Heritage

The maze-like design is one of several components in Sara's engaging exhibition showcasing the culture, knowledge, and philosophy 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 Kola region (an area they call Sápmi). They have endured persecution, integration policies, and eradication of their language by all four countries. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi belief system and creation story, the work also draws attention to the community's issues associated with the global warming, loss of territory, and colonialism.

Symbolism in Elements

On the extended access incline, there's a soaring, eighty-five-foot sculpture of reindeer hides trapped by utility lines. It serves as a metaphor for the governance and financial structures limiting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part heavenly staircase, this section of the installation, called Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an harsh environmental condition, wherein solid sheets of ice appear as fluctuating weather liquefy and solidify again the snow, locking in the reindeers' primary cold-season food, lichen. The condition is a consequence of planetary warming, which is taking place up to at an accelerated rate in the Far North than elsewhere.

A few years back, I traveled to see Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a goavvi winter and went with Sámi pastoralists on their Arctic vehicles in chilly conditions as they transported containers of food pellets on to the barren frozen landscape to distribute manually. The reindeer crowded round us, digging the slippery ground in futility for mossy pieces. This expensive and demanding process is having a severe effect on herding practices—and on the animals' independence. However the other option is death. When such conditions become commonplace, reindeer are perishing—a number from lack of food, others drowning after plunging into lakes and rivers through thinning ice sheets. In a sense, the art is a tribute to them. "By overlapping of components, in a way I'm transporting the phenomenon to London," says Sara.

Contrasting Worldviews

The installation also highlights the clear divergence between the industrial interpretation of power as a asset to be exploited for economic benefit and survival and the Sámi philosophy of vitality as an inherent life force in creatures, individuals, and land. This venue's legacy as a fossil fuel plant is connected to this, as is what the Sámi see as eco-imperialism by Scandinavian states. While attempting to be leaders for clean sources, Nordic nations have locked horns with the Sámi over the building of wind energy projects, hydroelectric dams, and digging operations on their traditional territory; the Sámi argue their human rights, livelihoods, and culture are endangered. "It's hard being such a limited population to defend yourself when the reasons are based on saving the world," Sara observes. "Extractivism has co-opted the discourse of sustainability, but still it's just attempting to find alternative ways to persist in patterns of use."

Individual Challenges

Sara and her relatives have personally conflicted with the national administration over its tightening policies on animal husbandry. Previously, Sara's sibling initiated a set of ultimately unsuccessful legal cases over the forced culling of his animals, supposedly to stop vegetation depletion. As a show of solidarity, Sara produced a extended series of creations named Pile O'Sápmi including a massive drape of four hundred reindeer skulls, which was shown at the 2017's art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the public gallery, where it is displayed in the entryway.

Creative Expression as Advocacy

For many Sámi, creative work appears the only domain in which they can be listened to by people of other nations. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|