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COMMODITY EXCHANGE
The Setup
After my mother’s death in June 2024, I was presented with a sudden shift in agency, and in response devised an ongoing scent-inflected process piece called Commodity Exchange, in which I have used scent to explore alternate configurations of value, and how we treat the objects people leave behind in death.
Commodity Exchange is an invitation to reflect on the subjective and volatile aspects of power and value in objects, scents and families. Through a a shifting series of agreements and newly configured meanings, I wanted to provide waves of small opportunities to diffuse complicated grief.
Like the fluctuating power dynamics of family relationships, scent carries with it questions of consent and control.
A few years prior to her death, my mother had asked me to make a pillow-scent for her based on Guerlain’s Eau de Fleurs de Cedrat.
I made several attempts, none quite adequate, but along the way discovered that cedrat is French for Citrus Medica, a proto-citrus with deep historical and ritualistic resonances.
Upon her death my mother left behind a multitudinous collection of objects that had been highly valued by her, but were suddenly thrown into a limbo of undetermined subjective value.
The Fragrant Estate Sale
They then tacked the papers to the gallery walls, and anointed them with one of 3 scents I’d concocted, based around cedrat, etrog, or citron (all Citrus Medica.)
Examples of Joss paper wall confessionals:
A memento-mori medicine chest anchored the space, emitting etrog hydrosol. The hydrosol was produced out of etrog procured from an orchard in Southern California.
The medicine cabinet contained various items of significance, including personal items that had belonged to my mother, as well as my original versions of Eau De Fleurs de Cedrat, which she’d kept despite their poor resemblance to the original.
There were also gilded fruits in various stages of decomposition, as well as a scent I was monkeying around with called Carnal Cedrat. Carnal Cedrat was kept in a citrus-peel basket held by an etrog sculpture in the form of a baby creature.
The idea of the baby sculpture came from the Nino Di Atocha, a syncretic catholic saint who protects houses as longs as his little basket is filled with water.
The Assemblages
Additionally, I created a number of assemblages from objects I valued highly and displayed them in the gallery during the exhibition. Each had a unique scent component.
These assemblages were offered for free. Instead, custodians signed contracts agreeing to perform and document monthly rituals with the intact assemblages for a period of 6 months.
The Ending
By the end of the exhibition there were lots of scented Joss papers on the walls of the gallery.
In a closing ceremony, I read the papers in a sound performance with bassist Tim Dahl.
The Assemblage Continuation
There are currently six active assemblage custodians. Each person has a unique scent ritual assigned to them. After 6 months, they will be free to do what they want with the assemblages.
Click on any assemblages for more details on its journey!