Christelle Boulé

The act of smelling perfume is an evocative and evanescent experience. The “Drops” series was born from my desire to visually express this intimate experience.

Through my research, I discovered how perfume reacts on photographic paper. This discovery led me to develop a process for capturing the image of a fragrance.

In the photo lab, I place a few drops of perfume on colour photographic paper. Once the liquid has dried, I expose the paper to light and then plunge it into the developer solution.

The image of fragrance revealed.

Each photograph - poetic and abstract - reveals the print of a fragrance. A print that is unique; each one depends on the scent’s chemical composition.

“Drops” is a collection of 100 original photographic images which hold a faint odour of perfume essences. In this way, these images create a new link between the visual and the olfactory. The spectator who gets close enough to look at the photos can smell the faint scent of perfume still on the paper, a gesture reminiscent to leaning in and smelling the perfume on the hollow of a person’s neck…