Siena Mazza

Installation: scent, personal objects, process
Documentation: single channel sound and video, 1:25 minutes

 

Reading Abou Farman’s article, Towards a Post-SecularAestheticgot me thinking about the physicality of death and the belongings that deceased people leave behind. In particular, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge’s statement about his lover, Lady Jaye’s death: “She dropped her body, the cheap suitcase” inspired the idea for my final project. With this quote and the concept of memento moriin mind, I created She Dropped Her Body IntoCheap Suitcases, a process installation that involves filling two suitcases, boxes, bags, and vases with belongings reminiscent of deceased family members, estranged friends, and ex lovers. For the purpose of this project I considered the following questions: How/where/when do we dispose of our loved one’s belongings? Do we sell their possessions at estate sales? Donate them? Leave them in situ collecting dust? Pack them up and put them away? Throw them in the trash? Are we a culmination of the things we collect and carry? Can we stuff our essences into luggages? The aromatic part of the installation fulfills my fascination with olfactory art. I diffused trong scents I associate with death, disease, and my deceased loved ones into the air. The goal was not to make this installation smell conventionally ‘good,’ but to recreate smells attached to good and bad memories to the best of my ability.