DISTILLED ESSENCE

Sturt haaga gallery, los angeles, ca (2023)

Distilled Essence is a scent and sculpture installation showcasing transparent plant tissue planted inside decanters and hand-blown perfume vessels. Though the plants are recognizable by form, its ghostly bodies are void of biological markers and archived as homogeneous plant tissue. Perhaps there is oneness to nature when stripped of identity and united by the universal experience of life and death.

⚘ Distilled Essence of Nature ⚘

Drawing from the visual language of apothecaries, the glass works combine elements of decanters, apothecary show globes, and perfume bottles. The centerpiece, Memory of Mankind, is a transparent urn that preserves the invisible markers of life—scent, memory, and essence.

Each vial contains a conceptual fragrant oil distilled from transparent flora. The aroma centers on linalool, a gently floral molecule abundant throughout nature, yet rarely encountered in its isolated form. Shared across hundreds of plant species, linalool serves as a symbol of the distilled essence of the botanical kingdom.