PhD Research 1
I commenced my PhD in 2022 and the journey has been incredibly fun and often unexpected.
It has taken me all over Europe and around the UK, seeking, sniffing and chatting about the linking of scent with sculpture… It has been tricky to sort this body of documentation and experience into chapters, but here is a good go at it…
Reminiscent - Eau de Rodin/Rodin Odour
Held at Manchester Art Gallery - 29 July 2026, as part of their Night at the Museum event.
I presented a serene sensory take on Auguste Rodin’s Age of Bronze, which stands at the left hand side of the stone staircase in the gallery entrance hall. I wanted to re-present this artwork using scent - Bronze Age - By NuParfums (Unfortunately this fragrance has been discontinued)
A moment of scent-uality, a restrained re-freshment of Rodin’s remarkable and controversial sculpture from 1877.
Depicting fragility and fortitude, a lithe young man caught in a suspended moment of revitalisation. The male musculature is magnificently rendered in the cool metallic bronze cast. A Rodin masterpiece that required your input…
I individually dispensed a fragrance to intrigue, you were encouraged to re-appraise the statue, to absorb, with olfaction and a quiet sniff of a poignant choice of perfume. Tester strips and sample bottles were readily available with means to pass on feedback via email.
There was a chance to engage with myself, the artist/researcher and share scented anecdotes and smell memories.
Reminiscent - Venus de Milo
In 2019, The Perfume Society reported that 8 masterpieces from the Louvre had inspired 8 World-famous perfumers to create fragrances for L’Officine Universelle Buly 1803.
Jean-Christophe Hérault was intrigued by the Venus de Milo - 'the beauty of the marble goddess, elusive and notional, lifts up the soul with timeless bliss.’
When I had a chance, I travelled to Paris in 2022, to experience the perfume with the sculpture… to experience those works at first hand, or should I say at nose and at eye?
Recently I discovered that the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education had a full size plaster version…. I went to sniff her out too…. (Thank you to the staff and students).
Reminiscent - Age of Bronze
Whilst in Rome in 2023, I bumped into a sculpture, August Rodin’s Age of Bronze, seemingly plopped into the gallery space. This encounter perplexed me and I documented the humble figure. In Leeds, the following year, I came across another, a pedestaled version with malachite-stained patina in the City Gallery, surrounded by Victorian gilded frames. This second tryst was so drastic to the first in Rome. I was reminded of the Venus de Milo and the olfactory incident in the gallery. I wanted a similar experience.
I found a fragrance called ’The Bronze Age’ online… I also discovered that there are multiple versions of the Age of Bronze and they are not all listed on Wikipedia!
This section of my research aims to connect this fragrance with this artwork, can a scent conjure an artwork?
Encountering/Sniffing
I am sensitive to smells, my nose leads me in different directions and my research gives me the confidence to ask questions about scents (This has proved pivotal on numerous occasions, as very often ambient fragrances require deeper investigation!)
Here is selection of my experiences… (I apologise to any gallery or artist who may not want a nosey researcher taking pics). I would also like to thank the many galleries, institutions and artists who have allowed me access to these olfactory whims.
The Wake
This show displayed the statue of Grim and Havelock by the late Douglas Wain-Hobson in its ultimate state of disrepair. He was laid out on his back in the gallery alongside local press and other historical information, some highlighting the myth around Grim and Havelock.
The Wake represented the culmination of many years of research and debate, regarding not just the legend but the heritage of Grimsby town.
In the show, I was able to infuse the space, with the scent of pine, both with visual and olfactory references, naturally, via the small trees that were planted in the window and chemically with the Little Trees and Febreze spray to bolster the ambient smell. I wanted the smell to become associated with the statue, to form a sensory connection, perhaps instill visitors with an unconscious memory of visiting the statue. Marcel Duchamp and Mike Kelley have used pine scents within their works over the years and it felt right to link their work with the project.
Visitors were able to share their thoughts and memories of this iconic local sculpture and join in conversations about the importance of public works and how we endeavour to ascertain their importance as cultural markers within towns and cities.
Made possible with Heritage Funding.
Sanitizeus
I was in Athens, in the National Archaeological Museum in December in 2024. There was a hand sanitiser a few metres from the Zeus of Artemision statue - the smell from the product was sniffed as I walked up to engage with the sculpture…. I was forbidden to be photographed sanitising my hands in front of the figure…. the smell will become part of the memory of that experience… The encounter has been pivotal in making me think about serendipitous sculptural rendezvous, indoors and out and how cleanliness within gallery spaces is prevalent. I love the contrast within gallery shops, vestibules, toilets and cafe spaces.
I have been using smaller models of Zeus within bottles of scented sanitiser and soaps…
Another trip from Aarhus in 2023 brought another soapy sculptural encounter, students had poured washing up liquid into a nearby fountain.
The painting by Auguste Charles Mengin was painted in the same year that the Age of Bronze was first displayed (I do like connections in art and life!)
The shop at the Manchester Art Gallery sell a reed diffuser, with a scent that was inspired by the artwork - There is distance between the gallery, (on level 1) and the products (on the ground floor). I wanted to make a better connection; to sniff and experience the painting within a closer proximity… (As a former visual merchandiser, I like how permanent collection works can inspire commercial ventures to support museums and galleries).
