"Odour patris tu" (my father's smell)

This creative-led research extends on my ongoing investigation on how ephemeral materials can provide insight into mortality; and the role that art can play in mediating issues of life and death. The exhibition displays a series of perfumed toiletries that represent a signature fragrance of a deceased family member. As a highly nuanced sense, with an enormous capacity to trigger human emotions, it is surprising that smell features so rarely in aesthetics. This research redresses this by using wind up deodorant sticks, and talcum powder as art materials to create personal talismans that speak to the power of smell to evoke memories; build an intimate portrait of the subject behind the aroma; and explore the cultural dimensions of smell and its function as a medium of self-definition.