ubi occurrit terra in lacrimas kosmos (where the earth meets the tears of the cosmos) – petrichor scent sculpture

ubi occurrit terra in lacrimas kosmos (where the earth meets the tears of the cosmos), 2023, custom-made scent, nebulizer, rustable magnetic iron PLA filament, clay PLA filament, red gravel rocks, 100 x 60 x 40cm.

ubi occurrit terra in lacrimas kosmos (where the earth meets the tears of the cosmos), 2023, custom-made scent, nebulizer, rustable magnetic iron PLA filament, clay PLA filament, red gravel rocks, 100 x 60 x 40cm.  From Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers). Photo credit: David Martinelli – DC Imaging 2024 (taken at the UniSQ Art Gallery exhibition). 

 

View the online exhibition here. 

Petrichor: the smell of earth & rain

[This scent] …for me [Cat Jones] is extraterrestrial, meteorite, rock, spice, watery, dank rock, a grotto of tears, ozone, a border between atmospheres. It sends me outward, out of body, like a disassociation, that might accompany pronouncement of a diagnosis, launching a new map of the future. The sculpture housing this scent contains iron filament. It represents the red soil composition of the family farm where Simpson lives, which in turn influences the unique profile of the petrichor note she has constructed. Geosmin, a volatile chemical produced by Streptomyces bacteria, reacts with the iron in the soil (and the eucalypt forest) in a particular way at this site. A similar scent to that produced by iron reacting, to contact with human skin – like the smell of blood.

Excerpt from Cat Jones (2023), ‘Reaggragating a Body’, in Martin-Chew, L. et al, Furari Flores. Haden: Cara-Ann Simpson, p. 42.

A circlet, a wreath, a cycle. The richness of colour and sound dripping, bleeding and falling to earth. An artwork featuring a flowering eucalyptus and exploring the folly in repetitive replication.

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