Carrasco, a scent developed for RF Alvarez

RF Alvarez approached me with an idea. He recognized the power of scent to tap into nostalgia, communicate complex emotions, and engage viewers in a new way and wanted to leverage that with an olfactive element for his upcoming show “The Look Back”.

The work approaches the concepts of self, sexual identity, and freedom through grief in a series of paintings, set in three acts. Modeled on the Greek myth of Orpheus, who descends into the underworld in search of his deceased bride, Euridice. After making a deal with the gods, he ascends to the world of the living, only to look back at the last moment and lose her forever. In the life of a gay man, and really any folks that live outside the expectation placed on them at birth, whether that be gender, sexual orientation, what have you; there is a period of greiving the loss of the person you thought you were supposed to be, an identity crisis, and a emerging from that process with a renewed sense of self and identity.

I set about identifying ingredients and elements that would complement not only the themes of the work, but the geographical location and pacing of the story.

The scent unfolds in three parts

Part 1 -

Smoke - a warning

For milenia humans have lived alongside fire, first wild, and then bent to our will, we evolved alongside the flame and have a keen ability to pick it out, for it to shake us awake and into the present. Smoke is a warning. Potential danger. Something that cannot be ignored.

Part 2 -

Tension between familiarity and intrigue.

Smoke softens and we recognize Texas cedar coming into focus, bolstered by amber, and a classic pairing of oakmoss and patchouli. A safety in the recognizable and familiar juxtaposed against the darkness and depth of self-discovery. I used Oud and animalic notes to illustrate the psychological depths one must descend as well as the hedonic nature of that journey.

Part 3 -

Enclosure

The party is over and you’ve emerged from the journey. Tired, weary, but with a renewed sense of self. You’re acceptance is that last step in greiving the man you were never meant to be, and stepping into the life you were always meant to live.