The exhibition “Scent of Humans” speaks of how our nose is always the primary introducer to our feelings. It gives us the initial information about whether we stay or move on whether we like something or are we reluctant to it, and ultimately determines our memories.
In our brain, smells and emotions are recorded as one memory. Therefore, childhood plays an important role in the formation of our smells, based on which we make decisions basically for the rest of our lives. So it is no wonder that the freshly mowed lawn brings to mind the grandparents and the scent of childhood cottage or the smell of clean linens, hot summer laundry day and the vastness of the World playing inside it.
“Scent of Humans” speaks of the journey and the memories and experiences in its way, and how everything that follows can only be built on its shoulders. The exhibition takes baby steps back to childhood, so as not to disturb the past too much, where it puts different generations to sit down together for a moment and lose the hierarchy. The works also reflect movement between cities, cultures, and countries, as well as movement through time and age, in a search of a place where one might perhaps linger a little longer.
The exhibition “Scent of Human” is curated by Merilin Talumaa. The exhibition is supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Pühaste Brewery, Lo Alto. Kristel Saan (b 1985) is an artist living and working in Estonia. Her practice includes large-scale installations, ceramics, textile and painting, photography and video works. The work of the artist is often reminiscent of a wide variety of imaginary places where poetry and various unexpected organic materials intertwine, through which the perception of object, material and space becomes one of the fundamental aspects of his work. During the work process, both bodily sensations and the relationship between the body and the surrounding environment are the focus of the artist’s attention. Kristel Saan has obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree in ceramics from the Faculty of Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts. In addition, she has studied fine arts at Central Saint Martins in London, visual arts during her master’s studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada, and sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States.
Merilin Talumaa (b 1986) is a curator and cultural manager who lives and works in Paris and Tallinn. She has graduated from the Department of Art History and Visual Culture at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She is also a graduate of Environmental studies from University of Tartu. Her practice has evolved around research about artists’ studio and work environments and notions of migration and belonging. Her recent on-going projects include Roots to Routes (since 2020) – a curatorial initiative gathering a community of artists, curators and cultural producers from Baltic states. Prior to the book „Your Time Is My Time”, Mousse Publishing, 2023, she compiled and edited the book „Artists’ spaces: 16 studio visits”, Estonian Academy of Arts Press, 2017 (both together with Annika Toots).
