The Presence of Absence

The eye seems to have created a physical distance that does no justice to the receptivity of our other senses and their affective interaction with the human mind. By the means of this project, I like to examine the potential of their receptivity within the deeply human experience of mourning. With the question whether a sensory approach to grief, can help us process our loss in a deeper and more complete way.

The handling of the object aims to become a moment to consciously experience the fundamental human emotion of mourning.

Consequently, this project proposes a body centred and integral sensory experience of grief. In which the emotional participation of the person concerned, is obtained through the tension between the conscious allowance of the grief and the unconscious sensory stimuli beneath. In other words: by weaving a scent associated with a loved one within a tangible object, the act of handling itself proposes a moment to consciously experience the fundamental human emotion of mourning in an embracing manner.

Due to the anchoring of our being within the present moment via the sensation of touch and the strong correlation between scent and memory. An interweaving of what was with what is no longer there, the past with the present, of gratitude and sadness, is foreseen. And so, in monumental but humble fashion, it hopes to guide the person in question to a to more profound sense of equanimity.