I'm thrilled to announce that my latest composition - a labour of love almost a year in the making - will be featured in olfactory museum Olfactory Art Keller's upcoming exhibition, Ten Encounters!
Here's a little blurb from their website about the exhibition:
In most cases, mixing two smells results in a smell that is somewhere in between the two components or a simple combination of them. However, sometimes scent creators discover that from the mixture of two odors an entirely new odor gestalt emerges. A similar pattern is found when two humans meet. Most encounters leave no trace, some make a person's day slightly better or worse, but very few have repercussions that shape culture for centuries or even millennia. For Ten Encounters, Saskia Wilson-Brown of the Institute for Art and Olfaction invited ten artists from around the world to explore encounters between two individuals that shaped [their] culture to this day.
For my piece, I chose to interpret the meeting between Admiral Zheng He and Sultan Parameswara of Malacca, which led to the development of the Peranakan/Nonya culture in Southeast Asia, where I come from. For a more detailed description, here's the write-up I did for the piece:
In the early 15th century, the Emperor of China appointed Admiral Zheng He as an envoy, commanding a majestic fleet of trade ships, to make contact with and establish trade relationships with various kingdoms from South Asia all the way to Africa. In particular, the fleet's sojourn in the Sultanate of Malacca, an integral part of the Spice Routes, marked the first encounter between Chinese and Malayan heritages. Their confluence eventually produced the rich interwoven tapestry that is the unique Peranakan/Nonya culture, whose influence can be felt in Southeast Asia, including my native Singapore, to this day.
For this composition, I created an olfactory interpretation of the meeting between the Admiral and the Sultan, with the Admiral presenting chests brimming with patchouli-infused silks as well as fragrant jasmine and osmanthus oolong teas as gifts to the Sultan, and the Sultan offering burlap sacks overflowing with precious cloves and pepper as tribute to the Emperor. This is juxtaposed against notes of sea spray and ambergris representing the Admiral's lengthy southbound voyage, as well as ylang-ylang and jackfruit - both native to Malacca - to add a uniquely local twist to the composition.
The exhibition will be on display from 9 Oct to 13 Nov 2021 at Olfactory Art Keller in New York City.
For more information, do visit https://www.olfactoryartkeller.com/exhibitions/ten-encounters.
I can't wait for you all to try out my latest piece - hope you enjoy it!