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Attendees to the renowned gallery are familiar to unusual encounters in its expansive Turbine Hall. They have relaxed under an man-made sun, descended down amusement rides, and observed robotic jellyfish floating through the air. But this marks the initial time they will be engaging themselves in the intricate nose cavities of a reindeer. The latest creative installation for this huge space—designed by Native Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara—encourages gallerygoers into a winding construction inspired by the enlarged inside of a reindeer's nose cavities. Upon entering, they can meander around or relax on pelts, listening on earphones to tribal seniors imparting stories and knowledge.

Why the Nose?

Why choose the nasal structure? It may seem playful, but the installation celebrates a obscure natural marvel: experts have uncovered that in a fraction of a second, the reindeer's nose can warm the surrounding air it takes in by 80 degrees celsius, helping the creature to thrive in inhospitable Arctic climates. Scaling the nose to human-scale dimensions, Sara explains, "generates a sense of inferiority that you as a individual are not superior over nature." The artist is a ex- reporter, children's author, and environmental activist, who hails from a pastoral family in the far north of Norway. "Perhaps that fosters the possibility to shift your viewpoint or evoke some modesty," she continues.

A Tribute to Sámi Culture

The labyrinthine structure is among various components in Sara's engaging commission honoring the heritage, knowledge, and philosophy of the Sámi, the sole native group in Europe. Traditionally mobile, the Sámi count about 100,000 people distributed across the Norwegian north, Finland, the Swedish Lapland, and the Kola region (an region they call Sápmi). They have endured discrimination, integration policies, and suppression of their dialect by all four nations. With an emphasis on the reindeer, an animal at the heart of the Sámi belief system and creation story, the art also spotlights the community's struggles relating to the global warming, land dispossession, and imperialism.

Meaning in Materials

At the lengthy entry slope, there's a soaring, 26-metre sculpture of skins ensnared by power and light cables. It can be read as a analogy for the societal frameworks limiting the Sámi. Like an electrical tower, part spiritual ascent, this component of the artwork, titled Goavve-, refers to the Sámi name for an severe climatic event, wherein thick sheets of ice form as changing conditions liquefy and solidify again the snow, encasing the reindeers' key winter sustenance, lichen. The condition is a result of climate change, which is taking place up to four times faster in the Polar region than globally.

Three years ago, I met with Sara in the Norwegian far north during a icy season and joined Sámi herders on their snowmobiles in freezing temperatures as they hauled trailers of food pellets on to the barren Arctic plains to dispense by hand. The reindeer surrounded round us, pawing the frozen ground in vain attempts for vegetative bits. This resource-intensive and labour-intensive procedure is having a significant influence on reindeer husbandry—and on the animals' natural survival. But the choice is starvation. When such conditions become commonplace, reindeer are dying—a number from starvation, others drowning after sinking in lakes and rivers through prematurely melting ice. On one level, the work is a tribute to them. "By overlapping of elements, in a way I'm transporting the goavvi to London," says Sara.

Opposing Belief Systems

This artwork also highlights the clear difference between the western view of power as a asset to be utilized for profit and survival and the Sámi philosophy of life force as an natural power in creatures, people, and the environment. This venue's past as a fossil fuel plant is tied up in this, as is what the Sámi consider eco-imperialism by Nordic countries. While attempting to be exemplars for clean sources, Scandinavian countries have disagreed with the Sámi over the construction of wind energy projects, water power facilities, and extraction sites on their traditional territory; the Sámi argue their fundamental freedoms, livelihoods, and traditions are threatened. "It's challenging being such a limited population to protect your rights when the reasons are grounded in environmental protection," Sara notes. "Extractivism has adopted the discourse of sustainability, but nonetheless it's just attempting to find alternative ways to persist in habits of use."

Individual Challenges

Sara and her family have personally clashed with the state authorities over its ever-stricter regulations on reindeer management. In 2016, Sara's sibling undertook a set of ultimately unsuccessful legal cases over the mandatory slaughter of his animals, ostensibly to stop overgrazing. In support, Sara created a four-year collection of pieces named Pile O'Sápmi featuring a huge drape of 400 reindeer skulls, which was shown at the 2017's event Documenta 14 and later purchased by the National Museum of Oslo, where it hangs in the lobby.

The Role of Art in Awareness

For numerous Indigenous people, art is the only sphere in which they can be heard by outsiders. Two years ago, Sara was {one of three|among a group of|