In daily life there are fragrances or smells that flow and disappear without our awareness, or which enter our consciousness through the deliberate act of smelling. 

Scents that become attached to one’s memory like a sticky burr are stowed away in a memory box. A fragrance/smell recalls a memory. As scent, going through a nostril, reaches this memory box and creeps in under its lid, a sleeping memory in the bottom of the box suddenly awakens. 

 But even if there is no actual smell, or if we have lost our olfactory powers, when a memory is revived by something visual, auditory or tactile, the specific smell in the recollection rises up as if the attached particle has vaporized. 

A scenery that is dear to us, a time fulfilled with joy and happiness, a memory of childhood; such a landscape, as if in a sepia color, is revived together with a specific scent.

What is the scent which is felt but does not actually exist?

When visitors come closer while stepping on the leaves and open the small box, all the senses from the sound and the feeling of the fallen leaves or their fragrance, may stimulate a small remembrance deep inside.

Nostalgic landscapes, stowed within each and every person, may be revived with such a memorized scent.

Material and Display

This work was exhibited at Wanås Art in Sweden (November 2018) and in Kyoto (March 2019), as the final exhibition of the project Olfactory Art and Science Research. 

A small box was used for both exhibitions but the large box and leaves were different. 

Wooden boxes; 50 x 50 x 50 cm with fallen leaves of Kunugi (Sawtooth Oak)*; 15 x 12 x 8 cm with Ginkgo fallen leaves**. 

* The large box, filled with common fallen leaves, is placed on the floor where more leaves have been spread approximately 2 meters in diameter.

* The small box with the closed lid, filled with Ginkgo leaves, was placed on the top of the leaves in the open large box.