Less than a week before this project opens and I haven't even posted preliminary working notes. The images above will no doubt be the most "visual" elements to this project ... and none of them will be on exhibit. Sillage is an entirely olfactory artwork in which "scent-spaces" will waft throughout the museums as viewers walk around (presumably looking at other people's art on the walls).
SMMoA was very generous with with my materials budget, so I will be working with a lot of gorgeous essential oils and aromachemicals. Like most of my olfactory projects, I actually write and draw before I begin designing with scent. The scents in Sillage were an outcome of a survey I posted several months ago, asking Angelenos to describe for me what the different regions of Los Angeles smelled to them. I had a good handle on transcribing the survey responses until Carolina Miranda wrote an article on my project for the LA Time. Within two days the survey responses more than doubled. Thankfully, there was already consensus among those surveyed. The new responses essentially confirmed what I already new.
If you haven't read the LA Times article, you can find it here. I will be heading to LA later this week to do two NPR interviews and one TV interview. If I'm any good I will post them here later this week.