Jasmine from Grasse, AGA

Art Gallery of Alberta, Canada, 2022

Jasmine from Grasse is an invitation to journey to a specific moment in someone else’s life through an olfactory encounter. Sans façon, with the help of Professor of Psychology, Glen Bodner, and Master Perfumer, Irene Schnell, faithfully recreated the scent of a place and time drawn from the memories of six individuals, generously allowing us to share in the intimacy of a long ago moment through its particular scent.

The original realization of Jasmine for Grasse, infusing a room at the Esker Foundation one at a time each week, was rethought for the specific context of Scents of Movement, Scents of Place.

Presented in one room, individuals’ memories were printed on a heavy stock paper and infused with the specific scent of that memory, each one protected under a glass cloche. Reminiscent of the Victorian practice, and later used in war letters, the scented text becomes the invisible complement to the memory, amplifying its presence, triggering associated thoughts and evocations of other places. This use of the scent as a discovery once the text is handled carries on a personal and private connection with the text, respecting the individual’s generously shared memory and focusing on the carefully crafted inter-relation between the memory and the scent.

Scents of Movement, Scents of Place was produced by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Lindsey Sharman, including works by Abbas Akhavan, Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, Millie Chen & Evelyn von Michalofski, Brian Goeltzenleuchter, and Rolande Souliere.

Jasmine from Grasse was originally commissioned by Esker Foundation

Scents of Movement, Scents of Place was the 2022 Winner of the Canadian Museums Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Exhibitions.

For the full texts from each participant, click here