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Perfume Fountain for Humanity

A public project led by artist Anne McClain

Project Proposal

The creation of a perfume begins with a brief. For Anne’s project, that brief is to create a scent based on the experience of an act of humanity.

In September of 2009, Anne will travel to the city of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico with a group of twelve friends and perfumers and spend one week volunteering at the Casa de los Angeles, teaching art and visiting the local botanical garden at a day care center for children of single mothers. This act will serve as a tribute to a friend of Anne’s who volunteered at the Casa de los Angeles in 2003 and wrote of her experience, “I want to work with children..and do something to somehow improve their lives. I know that sometimes that means simply being 'present' to them..sharing a hug, holding them, smiling with them. We don't always have to do the big things to make a difference. If in my time of working with them I can benefit their families and the community in which they live I will be grateful.”

In Grasse, France, the capital of the perfume industry, Anne will create the Humanity scent by combining the techniques of modern perfumery and her studies in aromatherapy. Anne's intention is to use the inherent healing and transformative effects of natural plant materials to create a scent to uplift, encourage relaxation and making connections, stimulate compassion, and nurture a sense of letting go.

The Humanity scent will take the form of a fountain of perfumed water. A place of gathering often found in town squares (in Grasse, a fountain is located in the central square where the daily flower market takes place; in San Miguel de Allende the area where the fountain is located is called El Jardin), the fountain will serve as a place for communing, contemplation, and reflection. The creation of the fountain will be a collaborative effort between Anne, glass artist Alan Iwamura, and industrial designer Lance McGregor.

The fountain will be placed in a public space in New York, acting as a gathering place for people to experience the inspiration and meaning behind Humanity. The fountain is meant to transmit positive energy into the public. The question it will pose is: can good will be spread through scent?

About the Artist

Anne McClain is currently attending the Grasse Institute of Perfumery, taking courses in natural and synthetic raw materials, chemistry, and creation. She studied environmental studies, philosophy, and art at Brown University.

Anne fell into scent as an artistic medium through photography. Anne used photography in the same way she uses scents now - to flatten an experience or memory into something tangible. She also studied aromatherapy to understand the psychological effects the distillation of flowers, resins, barks, peels, leaves and other plant materials have on people.

Anne is passionate about revealing scent's power as artistic medium, and the unparalleled beauty of natural raw materials.

Artist's Past Work







Photography naturally lead Anne to scent artistry. Both mediums lend themselves to the pursuit of trying to capture moments and memories. Anne loves the dreamy, lingering quality that the memory of place can give over time. The excitement and displacement of travel leads one to an experience of being untethered. Anne likes to try and take those feelings, somewhere between illusion and reality, and to condense it, to flatten it, to create something so that she can remember what it feels like, always.




108, 2004
While spending four months living in Nepal, Anne studied with a rinpoche and was initiated into Tibetan Buddhism by a lama. This book recounts some of the insights into her spiritual practice, accompanied by photographs.




Transit/Home, 2005
For a period of a few years Anne travelled incessantly visiting Thailand, Indonesia, Baja California, Japan, and Hawaii, all the while thinking of someone she loved. They circled the globe on different paths, sometimes meeting and sometimes not. They took photographs influenced by each other and collected them into a book.




Kept, 2008
Stemming from her fascination with all things relating to memory, Anne was thinking about the phrase 'a kept woman'. She realized that not only would she most likely be keeping herself, she wanted it that way. At the time she was disappointed in love and conceived of a loverʼs gift to herself. she cut a hole through the center of a book about Paris, writing a story of lost love along the edges. In the void she placed a ring and the book became a jewelry box which she kept for herself.

Perfume - Left
Perfume - Right1

From The Artist

Perfume - Right2

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Friday
Sep042009

Day 4 - San Miguel de Allende

I woke up sick this morning and it could be because in the course of three days I have been peed on, coughed on, sneezed on, and had play-doh fingers in my eye.  I spent the morning nursing my cold at home eating Donna’s homemade banana bread, and making gifts for the teachers and staff of the Casa de los Angeles.  I had originally intended to teach the children how to make perfumed massage oils for their mothers, but I realized after arriving here that that was a bit advanced for three-year olds.  Instead, I used the materials I brought along to create body oils for the teachers and staff.  I made two blends, one with rose, bergamot, and sandalwood as it’s main ingredients, and another of jasmine, lavender, ylang-ylang, and sweet orange.  The teachers are the unsung heroes of the center, with most having children of their own to care of as well.  The teacher of the class I have been helping out with, Nesvit, is a pretty 26 year old with two sons, aged 5 and 12. Marisol, the cook at the new center and mother to twins Luciano and Angel who are in the class I assisted, crossed the border while pregnant so that her sons could have U.S. citizenship.  

In the afternoon, Jose and I went with Dulce, LuzElena, Aidee, Valeria, and Paolina to the orphanage where they live.  Run by four nuns, the Casa Hogar Julia Santa Don Busco is a home for girls of all ages.  Jose helped the girls with their homework and taught the girls how to make solar prints.  He had them gather all kinds of leaves and flowers and exposed them in the sun.  I sat and hung out with the girls, taking pictures and letting them play with my hair.  Some of the girls have parents but either because of poverty, domestic abuse, or other reasons, cannot take care of their girls and bring them here without signing over their rights.  Saying goodbye at the end of the day was especially difficult knowing that the girls were all staying there for indefinite periods.

DateSeptember 4, 2009 at 20:26 | Comment1 Comment

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