Incense has been around for thousands of years
and used especially in religious ceremonies, prayer, and meditation rituals
of civilizations all around the world. It has also been used for medicinal
purposes to help heal psychological and phisiological problems ranging from
stress, anxiety, depression, tension, insomnia, headache, temper, dizziness,
ringing in the ears, lack of concentration, and numerous other ailments.
There are literally thousands of scents available to consumers and available
in several different vehicles. There are sticks (agarbattis), cones, dhoops,
and traditional loose mediums such as twigs, leaves, flowers, powders,
resins, and oils. Sticks come in several variations as well, from masala,
charcoal, durbars, woodbase, and combinations.
I was introduced to incense by my uncle when I
was about eight years old and never really stopped burning it. Back then, I
was only aware of the cone type. I was about 20 years old when I found that
while burning incense and listening to electronic music, meditative
properties were easily achieved even when not attempting to do so. At night
and on stormy days with all the lights out and not only receiving auditory
stimulation, but olfactory stimulation as well, I found myself floating
through nothing but my own imaginations - the rest of the world tuned out.
Almost everyone has had the experience of smelling something in the air and
being vividly reminded of another time or place where that particular odor
was present. This “associative” or evocative nature of fragrance has its
roots in the structure of the human body itself. The sense of smell differs
from the other major senses in that it is more primitive, working more
directly with that part of the brain, which is “older” in an evolutionary
sense, than the rest of the brain. In my case, I've also found it has
rhythmic properties, as well, or at least it envokes certain urges to listen
to a certain style of music, be it jazz, blues, electronic, heavy metal,
electro-pop, dirges, and so on.
With this body of work, I attempt to portray
as much personality and function of each scent and type by using mixed
mediums, images, and objects. I needed help obtaining the objects for this
project because there is just too many products available and I needed large
quantities to do so. I asked the folks at IncenseGuru if they could supply
me with the empty and discarded packages. Without their help, I would never
have been able to produce these pieces within a normal timeframe. So...
thank you IncenseGuru! |
