This olfactory installation physically and poetically entangles us with the smell of soil near sites of gold extraction. Created in collaboration with Montreal-based perfumer and scent artist Dana El Masri, Spoil blends deep earth notes of terracotta, Puna herbs, gun powder, apricot pits and unripe peaches with the sharp smells of garlic blossoms and bitter almonds, resembling two of the most harmful by-products of gold mining operations: arsenic and cyanide.

Offering further conceptual context for the project and situated behind the olfactory installation is Patterns of Indulgence, a wallpaper work composed of the logos of the twenty-five most powerful and contested Canadian Mining corporations operating in the Americas between 2018-2021.

Disguised as luxury items, the black-glazed ceramic bottles holding the fragrance were made from clay sourced in territories severely impacted by the Bajo la Alumbrera gold mine, in Catamarca, Argentina. This immersive sensory artwork meditates on the ongoing colonial practices involved in land exploitation and its commodification, foregrounding the intricate forms of life that continue to refuse these extractive endeavours.