Thoughts:

the small little perfume flask that i carry with me everywhere means alot to me because i got it at a weird time in my life where my emotions were at a peak. the flask that carries this scent which recently made me aware that i have a distinct and strong attachment to scents in my life. This one specifically is a scent that has carried me through many memories, emotions, transitions and somehow has been there in my purse with me the whole time. At one point the little flask gave me comfort and a sense of peace. In other ways i felt the flask and the scent it carries within is unique and belongs solely to me, a piece of me. Recently i have been feeling like the little flask may not serve me as much. Like I may want to carry a different one and i guess i’ve been dealing with the weird sense of pain and anxiety that is letting go of things because in some way wanting something different and wanting change also means that you are inevitably leaving another thing behind that you are so dependent on. And the thing about my desire for change in relation to my little flask of perfume and its scent is relative to a lot of other things in my emotional and physical life that i desire change from and need to move past, but there is a pain and guilt in doing so. They go hand in hand. And its a strange feeling to think of the things that you will have to leave behind and how maybe they may feel even when they are inanimate objects. That doesn’t make any sense but in weird and strange way I feel like that about most things I figure I will have to move on from, which inevitably is almost everything in life.

 

For this Portrait I decided to think of the feelings I have of leaving this scent and flask behind and how maybe the flask itself would feel about me leaving IT behind and what our relationship meant to IT. Obviously in a sense I am giving this object life so as if it could feel. I ended up thinking of skin and the different places where this perfume belongs on my body. The places where the perfume was used to having me. I made a collage of pictures of all the places on my skin where I typically wear the perfume in hopes to create a piece that resembles a slab of skin which I then decided to turn into a small quilt. In a way the quilt of my skin signifies something that I could give my little flask of perfume. Something some tangible form of nostalgia. A quilt wraps around things in a similar manner that scent wraps around your body. Giving the little flask the same feeling it once gave me.