Dragon's Blood (perfume)
Newsletter 1.2024
It’s 2024 and Pluto, the astrological signifier of trials, tribulations and transformations, has left the sphere of Capricorn after 15 long years. Maybe it’s a coincidence but my circumstances have evolved for the better and I feel unencumbered for the first time since 2008. That year, I left my well-earning but self-esteem-crushing-dead-end corporate job and the safety of my parents’ home in Lagos (Nigeria), to pursue a Masters in Contemporary Art at the Sotheby’s Institute in Singapore. This mountain goat climbed uninterrupted and finally arrived at the peak to witness the sun rise.
The same questions remain though: What kind of a world do we want for ourselves? How do we get there? Each time I feel the hot anguish of failure, it is because I attempted to take on something momentous on my own. Alone.
Revolution-making is not a one-woman job. This is why I spent the last two years exploring the concept of “luxury communism” with readers on this platform, sharing knowledge, thought-process and the occasional complaint. Perfume is joyful and luxurious, obviously, but can it simultaneously hold its own as critique?
I also have a broader deliberation to make. Considering the never-ending pain we collectively inhale each day, I decided to make a perfume that embodies potency and the magic of possibility. In these unreal times, we need organised action compounded by supernatural intervention.
The Truth-teller v. league of Grifters
I didn’t quite know where to go with my scent-intention until I heard the legendary comedian Katt Williams dropping truth-bombs much to his host, Shannon Sharpe’s surprise (released 3rd January 2024). Williams has lived long enough, hustled hard enough, paid his debts, and forwarded “blessings” to younger, less fortunate people in his community in the form of money and support, all — as he puts it — without saying yes to “the devil”. He had waited a long time to say his peace. He was deliberate in choosing his platform, and once he got going, he didn’t pull his punches. Infact, what he said about the entertainment industry, mirrors the art and academic spheres.
“I’m not scared of being the competition any more than how you feel when you lined up from across a superior team. On paper, yeah, they’re the better team, they have all the assets and resources that we don’t. But let us get on the line, boy-boy, and see if that factors in, I guarantee you it won’t.” - Katt Williams, excerpt from “Katt WIlliams Unleashed”, Club Shay Shay, 3rd January 2024
You should watch this interview on YouTube, but in summation, Williams provided examples of how gatekeepers prop up industry-plants to serve as model-minority tokens; he named the inferior black comedian who stole his material; he elaborated on ways to recognise genuine markers of quality across pop-culture that transcended material signs of success. Most importantly, he centred two crucial points:
Play the long game. Grifters can only steal that one joke; nothing beats the practice of building upon original material that resonates over decades to the point that flexing that intellect with finesse becomes second nature. A well constructed joke, like good critique, never punches down. Another memorable quote: “Winners are not allowed to let the losers rewrite history. If you give a liar a platform to lie, then I’m not being messy by saying: hold on, that never happened. That is untrue.”
Class politics. No matter our professions, our struggle is along the fault lines of class; identitarian politics are a red herring. The global boycotts against corporate-feudalism, through coordinated action is working. But we need something…extra!
Dragon’s Blood, Yemen
That small yellow dot in the Arabian Sea is Socotra Island. It is unclear to me if the UAE indeed has de-facto control of this island in the present day.
The spectacular colour and aroma of the resin that bleeds from the Dracaena Cinnabari trees native to Yemen’s Socotra archipelago, took my breath away. The deep red fragment (pictured), smells intensely sweet, warm, earthy, woodsy; like incense burning with a flash of wild tart berries.
As I read more about this raw material, I was not surprised to find that this mesmerising tree holds great cultural significance across ancient Greece, China, India and Southeast Asia. This resin has been used an ingredient in traditional medicine for healing respiratory issues, staunch bleeding, for purification rituals, and as incense burnt to banish evil.
Such potent blood-red fragrance-material is what may lift me from my despair. So, over the coming months, I’m going to craft “Dragons Blood” perfume with other fortifying resins: Elemi, opopanax, guaiac-wood, styrax, sandalwood, mimosa absolute, beeswax absolute, frankincense and gurjan balsam extract.
