My experience of smell during the making of Birthday flowers was strong, going from the sweet scent of fresh Spring blooms to a wafting of decay and stagnant water. My experience of watching the flowers over seven days translated into changes I would make in the room, as though the room were responding to the flowers’ provocation. They communicate with one another through me. It was not my intent to convey specifically a sense of smell, but one of empathy between things, between the vase of flowers and the room. Naturally, smell was integral to the flowers and so integral to how I responded through the room. How much this is understood by the viewer is unclear to me.

Maggie Cardelús