New Cartographies Of Smell Migration (2021) / Site Santa Fe New Mexico US
Oswaldo Maciá: New Cartographies of Smell Migration | Santa Fe
October 1- October 31, 2021
Colombian born, Santa Fe based artist, Oswaldo Maciá finds inspiration in smell, sound, and cartography. Moving fluidly between multiple mediums, he creates immersive sculptural installations that question the way art privileges vision over the other senses. His multisensory designs challenge us to look harder, listen deeply and engage our senses while exploring themes of movement, memory, and history.
Scent has the power to evoke feeling and sensation. It has the potent capacity to connect us to our subconscious mind. Scent receptors in our nose connect right to our limbic system, our most primal brain, which is entwined with emotion and memory. Maciá’s practice explores the relationship between knowledge, communication and the senses. He employs a palette of sound and fragrance to spark curiosity and expand the language of art beyond vision.
New Cartographies of Smell Migration | Santa Fe
is centered on the pre-colonial essences of tree resins, specifically Peru Balsamo (Myroxylon balsamum pereirae), from El Salvador, and styrax gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), from the rainforest of Honduras. These resins and their fragrances have played major cultural, religious and medicinal roles among Indigenous peoples, particularly the Maya since time immemorial. Beginning in the 16th century these resins have been exported globally. This immersive experience traces the migration of these resins through metaphor, cartography, sound and smell.
The visual elements of this piece include twenty-four fresco paintings, and several large-scale maps. The frescos illustrate the processes of Maciá’s thoughts and research on migrations and cross-pollination. The installation is framed by hand painted maps. Maciá creates maps—not for way-finding, but as a metaphorical reference of migration of smell through movement. Each map is annotated with handwritten notes on cultural history and the biological role of smell. New Cartographies of Smell Migration considers the way in which personal and cultural narratives can be expressed through the senses.
Using sound as material, Maciá composes and integrates an audio sculpture that’s carefully arranged to resonate with the architecture of the space. Radiating sound from sixteen speakers, Maciá’s monumental audio sculpture features a blend of shifting sounds including wind, recorded in various deserts around the world, and calls of cross-pollinating insects from the bustling rainforest in the Choco region of his homeland, Colombia.
New Cartographies of Smell Migration | Santa Fe
was organized by Curator Brandee Caoba
and Phillips Executive Director, Louis Grachos. Special thanks to Johnny Bell, Audio Technician
Max Holmes, Exhibition Manager, and Kody Noble, Artist Assistant.
Fragrances sponsored by Nelixia Essential Oils.