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Accepted Paper:
Olfaction, solastalgia and art-making: tracing the promise of smellscapes in disappearing and emerging ecologies.
Tarsh Bates
(Umeå University)
Susan Hauri-Downing
Olfaction is a vital and yet often neglected sensory aspect of place-making. This paper explores the relationship between olfactory landscapes and solastalgia and how artistic practices can trace the complex affective experiences of ecological grief and loss and make space for justice and optimism.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, we think through the significance of olfactory landscapes to the rapidly changing, multi-species experiences of place. Smellscapes are recognised as an important part of human wellbeing and health and are vital aspects of culture and memory, including grief rituals. However, the role of olfaction in human and more-than-human experiences of environmental change and loss is not so well understood. We explore solastalgia (distress caused by environmental change) through a more-than-human olfactory lens, asking how smellscapes contribute to place-making by humans and non-humans and trace how olfaction contributes to human and non-human distress at the changes or loss of place. We discuss how olfactory art-making and creative practice can be used to understand and guide us through distress and grief. We also explore the emergence of novel olfactory ecologies and how olfactory creative practice can help us welcome or imagine just and regenerative worlds.