Olfactory Art

Raewyn Turner - since 1999

Since 1999 I’ve worked with olfaction in art. A part of my research is dedicated to learning the perfumers craft, research into anosmia and more recently I joined GCCR to learn about anosmia caused by Covid-19, my residency at Monell Chemical Senses Centre in 2011, and working with Richard Newcomb olfactory scientist at Plant and Food Research NZ.

My practice of working with smell also includes enfleurage, extraction from various objects for example clothing and worn socks, tinctures and distillation of plants which I grow in my garden. I love working with botanicals and the ‘millions of colours’ of synthetic molecules.

The fragrant compositions of Despite Centuries of War are botanical one-of-a-kind, stand-alone blends, like paintings. They’ve emerged from my research of perfume in times of war, crisis and trauma including my visit to Osmothèque the perfume museum at Versailles where I asked M Jean Kerléo if I could experience perfumes created during wartimes.

Despite Centuries of War

I grew up with my grandmother’s stories of wartime and the Blitz in the Cockney territory in London; stories of picking up her youngest baby and rushing the children to the bomb shelter in the garden, the incendiary bombs, the rations, the tension. I carry her stories inside me and have often felt as though I too had lived through that war of pain, loss and destruction. My grandmother also laughed until she cried. Despite centuries of war we persevere in making art and beauty. My intention in making these compositions is for the wearer and those around them to become awakened once again to the transforming power of botanical fragrances and the scent of life around us.

We have a fundamental relationship with nature. The perception and comprehension of our environment is a construction built on interpretations and references mirroring nature because we are inside nature. Our essential rhythms and patterns, and the everyday chemistry of photosynthesis, which we rely upon for our survival, are regulated by intervals of light and dark, as are the fragrance and colour patterning of plants, signals for pollination.

Using the aromatic palette of whole, rare and pure botanical materials,I’m experimenting with the alchemy of leaves, sticks, bark, seeds, rinds, roots, resins and flower essences. The carrier is a blend of organic jojoba oil and wax from my beehive.

The fragrances are stored in re-usable ultra-violet glass jars with light protective qualities.