Our first and so far only physical manifestation of our project “Bagh-e Hind” came to a close at the Institute of Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles on 12th August 2022 after a month-long display. My co-curator Nicolas Roth and I were so thrilled to see photographs of the Opening Night and to receive so many wonderful compliments about how beautiful the exhibition looked, smelled and felt.
Friend of Bagh James McHugh, who went to see the show, had this response:
A calm, meditative space, a cube of pink and white, where you can spend time exploring these rich manuscript images while also immersing yourself in the complex fragrances they evoke.
It was significant for us to see audiences walk right up to these never before seen, never on display, Mughal and Rajput paintings, almost pressing their noses, to search for the olfactive details we described in our curatorial notes — an experience simply not possible within a museum. It made me think deeply about what access might mean were Bagh tested as a physical exhibition at an institution.
I hinted at this in my previous Newsletter “Bagh: A series of firsts”, but now I would like to overtly invite my audience to consider the context and ethics that scaffolds such a project in the first place — and why its potential may never be realised in the material world where “institutional prestige” is the veil that obscures exploitation at the core of race-power dynamics. I am a South Asian diaspora woman, a critic of Southeast Asian contemporary art, a perfumer with no training or easy access to materials, and a complete outsider to the South Asian (art) history field who has no networks, no allegiances and who accepts no favours. My decade long practice has existed so far outside of the margins that my applications for grants, residencies and other such art and academic opportunities never actually fit within institutional requirements. So I had a habit of carving my own path but in 2018 I had a genius idea and a theory to test: What if I could behave like a one woman museum-institution instead of someone who has to wait for these spaces to open for her?
It took me three years (2018 - 2021) and a whole new perfumery practice to shore up resources to build this project from the ground up. Modest sales of my perfumes made sure I could either pay $150 honorarium to my guest collaborators or ship them a Bagh Synesthesia Box valued at $350 between 2021-22. If cash was not possible, then a value transaction ensured that everyone involved in my project would be compensated.
I built www.Baghehind.com on my own even though I knew little about web-design. Every image, text and arrow is there because I put it there. I loved choosing the colour palette and font. By July 2021, I reached out to Uzair Siddiqui in Berkeley (whom I knew only from his flavour experiments online), to match the paintings to the appropriate classical raag or sound. He brought a key emotional component to the intellectual rigour of the exhibition that should not be underestimated.
Additionally, I envisioned a museum-style catalogue that would include specially commissioned essays and resources for further reading on gardening and perfumery. Two new breathtaking essays are now updated:
Smoke Signals: Incense and Sacred Rituals in Bengal by Dhaka based artist-critic Parsa S. Sajid
Bhāṅḍs & Bahurūpiyās? -Entertainers, Impersonation and Performativity at the court of Udaipur by Baroda based scholar Vinit Vyas
All through the year, I provided virtual curatorial tours as I believe the role of the critic and indeed the curator is to connect the art to the public. I did not spoon feed my audience, rather I handed them the knowledge with which to read the exhibition for themselves. Museum directors, academics, perfumers and scientists came at my invitation to a “virtual stroll” through our garden that would run anywhere between 30 minutes to two hours. I elicited awe. Every single time.
I also generated the media, press and outreach around our project. This part of the curatorial process involved banking on good will, showing up with good faith, and responding to interview questions with transparency and honesty. In more than a few instances, my co-curator and I were instead commissioned to write about our project to provide intimate insights into the historical, sensual and flavourful aspects of Bagh-e Hind in a way that only we could. All our interviews and essays are archived here: https://www.baghehind.com/news
On the face of it, “I” did many things. But none of this magnificence would have existed without my co-curator Nicolas Roth who tempered my salty efficiency with his sweet patience and precision. Practically a stranger on the internet whom I approached in 2020 to interview and then again in 2021 to invite as a collaborator to establish this radical garden, Nicolas never blinked at my outrageous concepts; all of my absurdity made sense to him. A year of co-thinking, co-dreaming, co-writing with him has filled my heart with flowers and my stomach with butterflies. Together we became the museum that we wished existed in the real world.
While we work on other low-key projects together, our year long collaboration on Bagh-e Hind winds to a close this September. As we leave this garden to blossom and fruit on its own time, we will continue to expand our catalogue, write about practices and evaluate the opportunities offered to us.
I’ve delved back into the experience of seasonal flowers and corresponding seasonal perfume, the latest being a recreation of the fragrant Parijat flower. As usual, the best way to get in touch is by hitting reply.