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Guests to the renowned gallery are used to unexpected encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They've basked under an artificial sun, descended down helter skelters, and observed AI-powered jellyfish drifting through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be venturing themselves in the intricate nose passages of a reindeer. The newest artistic project for this huge space—designed by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—welcomes patrons into a winding design based on the scaled-up inside of a reindeer's nose cavities. Upon entering, they can wander around or relax on skins, tuning in on earphones to tribal seniors imparting tales and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why the nose? It could seem playful, but the installation pays tribute to a obscure biological feat: researchers have uncovered that in less than one second, the reindeer's nose can warm the incoming air it inhales by 80°C, helping the creature to endure in harsh Arctic conditions. Enlarging the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara explains, "generates a perception of insignificance that you as a human being are not in control over nature." Sara is a ex- reporter, young adult author, and land defender, who hails from a pastoral family in the Norwegian Arctic. "Perhaps that creates the possibility to shift your perspective or evoke some modesty," she adds.

A Celebration to Indigenous Heritage

The winding structure is one of several elements in Sara's absorbing commission showcasing the culture, knowledge, and philosophy of the Sámi, Europe's only Indigenous people. Semi-nomadic, the Sámi number about 100,000 people spread across the Norwegian north, the Finnish Arctic, the Swedish Lapland, and the Russian Arctic (an territory they call Sápmi). They've faced discrimination, integration policies, and repression of their tongue by all four states. By focusing on the reindeer, an creature at the heart of the Sámi mythology and founding narrative, the installation also draws attention to the community's challenges associated with the environmental emergency, land dispossession, and imperialism.

Metaphor in Materials

On the long entry incline, there's a towering, eighty-five-foot formation of pelts ensnared by power and light cables. It can be read as a metaphor for the societal frameworks constraining the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part celestial ladder, this part of the installation, named Goavve-, points to the Sámi term for an severe climatic event, wherein dense layers of ice develop as varying temperatures thaw and ice over the snow, encasing the reindeers' key winter sustenance, lichen. The condition is a result of climate change, which is occurring up to four times faster in the Far North than in other regions.

Previously, I visited Sara in Guovdageaidnu during a icy season and joined Sámi reindeer keepers on their Arctic vehicles in freezing temperatures as they transported carts of supplementary feed on to the wind-scoured tundra to provide through labor. These animals gathered round us, digging the icy ground in vain attempts for vegetative pieces. This costly and demanding procedure is having a drastic effect on herding practices—and on the animals' self-sufficiency. Yet the alternative is death. As these icy periods become frequent, reindeer are dying—a number from starvation, others suffocating after plunging into water bodies through unstable frozen surfaces. In a sense, the installation is a tribute to them. "With the layering of elements, in a way I'm introducing the condition to London," says Sara.

Opposing Worldviews

The installation also underscores the sharp divergence between the modern view of power as a commodity to be harnessed for gain and livelihood and the Sámi philosophy of life force as an natural life force in animals, people, and nature. The gallery's history as a coal and oil power station is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi view as environmental exploitation by Scandinavian states. While attempting to be standard bearers for sustainable power, these states have disagreed with the Sámi over the building of turbine fields, water power facilities, and mines on their ancestral land; the Sámi argue their human rights, ways of life, and culture are threatened. "It's very difficult being such a small minority to defend yourself when the justifications are based on environmental protection," Sara comments. "Extractivism has adopted the discourse of environmentalism, but still it's just attempting to find better ways to maintain habits of use."

Individual Challenges

Sara and her family have themselves clashed with the national administration over its increasingly stringent regulations on herding. Previously, Sara's sibling undertook a series of finally failed legal cases over the forced culling of his herd, ostensibly to stop overgrazing. To back him, Sara created a four-year collection of artworks named Pile O'Sápmi featuring a huge drape of four hundred animal bones, which was displayed at the 2017's art exhibition Documenta 14 and later purchased by the national institution, where it resides in the entrance.

Art as Awareness

For many Sámi, art appears the only realm in which they can be heard by the global community. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|