Contemporary perfume advertising often references the Garden of Eden and the narrative of the genesis, presenting scent as a gateway to sin, seduction, desire, and paradise. In contrast to this modern contextualization of parfume stands its dark original usage: parfume as the protective mask against the smell of decay, such as unwashed bodies, rotting flesh, disease, and death.
But what if perfume did not conceal the scent of decay, did not try to cover it up? What if it embraced it instead? What if it spoke its language? This project explores the possibility of scent as a medium for engaging with decay as an essential stage of life rather than something to be hidden. Developed in collaboration with perfumers, this project documents the process of capturing and reproducing olfactory traces of decomposition, transformation, and regeneration. The result is a fragrance evoking decay and life not as opposites, but as parts of a continuous cycle. Flourishing and decay entwined in a constant exchange.
Rather than being framed through predetermined visual imagery, each scent is accompanied by excerpts from novels and poems. These texts do not explain the fragrance but rather create a context through which personal intimate associations can be formed. The melange of scent and literature construct a broader narrative in which decay is understood not as an ending, but as a process of transformation.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve lived in the abundant garden of Eden, unbound by matter. It wasn’t a simple garden ornamented by nature, but a non-material timeless state of existence. Time did not pass and leaves did not fall nor did they know what was matter or death. Yet one day, the serpent came to Eve with a whisper. He claimed that sinning would not bring death as she had been warned, but sight. Her eyes would open and make her like the gods themselves. Charmed by those words, Eve reached for the fruit, followed by Adam. And with that single bite, their whole world suddenly was ground into dust. God’s punishment was not only moral exile from the oasis, it was a transformation: Adam and Eve were cast into the material world governed by time and mortality.
Adam was condemned to labor upon the earth to feed his loved ones and Eve to labor in childbirth, bringing life into the world through pain. And so it was from that day onward, these were the two conditions of reproduction and survival in the cycle of life. From this moment on, existence is defined by loss. Matter inevitably deteriorates itself, and time becomes the silent force that carries everything towards death. It is after the Fall that Adam became aware of his nakedness and instantly felt shame. It is the realization of his body as something that can be seen, judged and represented. The new reality they were thrown in is a world of image and perception where the self is no longer immediate but mediated through the gaze of others.