Alchemy of the archives
How Tasmania's convict records are interpreted through scent
Put your nose to the books
In a tiny climate-controlled room, behind dark glass, deep inside the State Library and Archives of Tasmania, an extraordinary collection sits in the dark. Part of the Australia's convict serial World Heritage Listing, a collection of rare and priceless records and ledgers that document convict transportation to Tasmania. Prisoner movement, probation details, tickets of leave, countless administrative records of deeply personal journeys.
What do you smell?
Inside the aroma is comforting, warm, dry and dusty. Not the scent of old bookshops... it's a little spicy with no suggestion of damp or must. These records have been looked after with care. A strangely pleasant smell brings to mind old gloves or lace. A whisper of cinnamon? Something is definitely a little roasty? A fluorescent tube ticks and flashes and the pale grey metal shelves have no smell at all.
Get closer
When you move into the space, the press of humanity and record-keeping fervour presses at the edge of your consciousness - each item begs individual attention. Every volume smells different:
- bound in leather, slowly turning to powder as red-rot progresses - sweetly scented
- 1855 dashed across the spine in white chalk, of a huge leather volume weighs more than a baby - dry warm leather
- cloth bound, slim and humble - the stripped ticking of the binding showing through - spicy, perhaps nutmeg
- Volume 96 (Accession No: 2/294) travelled all the way to Norfolk Island (in 1847) then back to Van Diemen's Land (in 1847) - faint vanilla amongst the leather.
Now combine all that...
Bring these ideas and impressions to the perfume bench. Revisit materials that evoke the scent & emotion of the room. Know the chemistry of degrading paper will produce certain aroma chemicals...the breakdown of cellulose and lignin producing (among other things):
- toluene, sweet and pungent
- vanillin, vanilla like
- furfual, almonds and toasted bread
- 2-ethylhexanol, slightly floral
Remember that nothing is straightforward. Every glue, binding material, ink and end paper adds to the smell.
Bottle it
Several "scent sketches" were produced as part of the process towards an olfactory artwork for All the Fires Come Alive an multi-artist exhibition where contemporary artists and texts bring alive the unseen. The chosen scent direction proved delicious (especially to the archivists!) and the potential to explore a perfume from this project was too good to ignore. Initially, a limited run of 100 bottles of Archive will be available for sale during All the Fires Come Alive.