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Scents, sights, sounds as artwork nurtures natural instincts
Sydney Morning Herald 05/02/15
Lachlan Bennett
Feeling alienated from the natural world, worn down by concrete, computers and cars? There's a term for that - Nature Deficit Disorder. And there's an immersive artwork for it, too. Created by photographer Tamara Dean, Here and Now is an eerie installation that uses scents, sound and sight to immerse people in nature. Although it is located in the dark Studio 1 of UNSW's Creative Practice Lab, Dean aims to transport audiences to a place of natural beauty, one far from our technologically obsessed society, and reconnect with their more primordial instincts. "[Here and Now] is a reminder about the value of nature in our lives and also that we are intrinsically linked to nature," Dean says. The artist - a former photographer for The Sydney Morning Herald - has had residencies at Taronga Zoo and the OMI International Arts Centre and is currently the University of NSW's artist in residence. She says the position has afforded her the time and freedom to create Here and Now. The installation consists of an ominous corridor leading to a single dark room. The walls are lined with mirrors, bushland insects hum in the background and viewers must hop across stepping stones surrounded by water to reach a lone, but mammoth, photograph covering the far wall. To complete the experience, Dean collaborated with fragrance artist Ainslie Walker. After researching the scents of rain-soaked earth and decaying leaves, Walker experimented with chemicals and essential oils to create the installation's organic smell. "We wanted to go for something that was muddy. Like water on rocks, very saturated and wet, not sweet or floral or sexy or any of the sorts of things say a perfume would be," Walker says. "It creates more of a feeling," Dean says. "A feeling that something's about to happen, that there's something happening with the earth and the water." Although Here and Now is temporary, viewers leave with a small vial of the installations signature smell as a reminder of humankind's place in the natural world.