Podcast

In January, I was invited to discuss my Perfume Research Project with Tanya Mironova, Olfaction Specialist who is based in Copenhagen and produces a podcast covering lots of scent, science and well being subjects – with guests that have included Dr. Michael Leon, Sofia Ehrich and Sai Kandalgaonkar. The focus on the conversation is around my work with learners in UK Prisons.

I have a scouse accent and talk very quickly – You can listen to my interview here

New Prison Futures. Epilogue

As reported in The Guardian – The prison population has passed 88,000, the highest number ever recorded in England and Wales. It was reported that Prisons in England have run emergency regimes 22 times this year, after falling below minimum staffing levels. Prisoners are often locked up for up to 23 hours a day. Experts warned this was denying prisoners access to work, the library, rehabilitation or even meals and lead to leading to a culture of hopelessness.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons in his Annual Report (2022) cited the lack of purposeful activity in Prisons and that the lack of face-to-face teaching had the most negative impact on prisoners with low levels of literacy and additional learning needs. 

Some of my visits had to be rearranged because of a shortage of security staff. Nearly half of officers (47%) who left the service in 2022 had been in the role for less than three years, more than a quarter (25%) left after less than a year. (Prison Reform Trust 2023). There were a couple of times were I turned up at a HMP, to find the session had been cancelled. Learners did not or could not, be released from other duties. 

I met lots of excellent and caring staff right across all the HMP’s. Sarah Hartley and the Novus Team, were the key facilitators in this project. They supported and helped me develop the project. It was a unique opportunity to visit and work with Learners in some unusual places. From the VP wing at HMP Liverpool to the Chapel and the recovery group at HMP Hindley. 

I can understand why most of the luxury Perfume companies never responded to my requests for feedback or interviews. Companies selling expensive perfume may not want to be associated with institutions that deal with crime and punishment. There is real complexity in building a workshop around something that has a big connection with image and sexual allure. The Marquez quote from Love in the Time of Cholera begins with unrequited love. The end of that novel has a surreal and poetic ending. The quote below from one of the learners at HMP Hindley may not be a line from Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But quite possibly, it could be the start of something else. Change, rehabilitation and redemption.

“ The more I can Imagine my future – the greater the possibility. What does my future smell like ? Does the world have a place for me. The past was how I remembered it. How I experienced it. It taught me how to feel. I experience now through the mirror of the past. How I respond to the past affects my future.” 

Perfume Stories are a series of sensory and storytelling workshops based around Perfume. The participants develop critical learning skills by responding to a a number of multi-sensory tasks – writing down and telling their own stories through narratives in poetry, spoken word and image making. Many of these timetabled sessions had to be cancelled at short notice due to security staff shortages.

Since its pilot with learners at HMP Liverpool in 2022. This workshop has run with learners at HMP Hindley, HMP Buckley Hall, HMP Liverpool and HMP Risley. Many of these learners have complained about the amount of time they spend behind their doors.

The latest stage of Perfume Stories: Alchemy and Essence is now being delivered by Novus staff across five sites in the North East – HMP Holme House, HMP Durham, HMP Northumberland, HMP Kirklevington and HMP Deerbolt. This is part of the Functional Skills English Curriculum.

Next stop – USA. More soon.

Durham, HMP Risley and Carvansons

Perfume Stories. An update.

In January 2023 I visited https://carvansons.co.uk/, they are one of the biggest producers of fragrance in Europe. I met with Luke Whowell, Director at Carvansons and the Head of Marketing, Vicki Last.

We discussed the idea of producing a bespoke kit to use with the learners at the HMP’s and with Novus. In addition to the Perfumes and fragrances I’ve been using in this project, I experimented with a number of direct scents at a recent workshop at HMP Buckley Hall * The impact exceeded my expectations. The prisoners responded really positively to the experience. Here are a few extracts  *

R Reminded me of the resin I used as a kid playing the violin.

A football changing room when I was younger and used to play for a local team.

This new collaboration with Carvansons is now being run in conjunction with Novus across a number of HMP sites in the North East – these include HMP Northumberland, HMP Durham, HMP Holme House, HMP Kirklevington and HMP Deerbolt.

I’ve also just completed probably my final on site workshops at HMP Risley. One of the prisoners retells a story from their childhood, a memory ( one of the new Carvansons Scents ) of sitting around a table eating cake at home, when they were small. It was nearly fifty years ago. You forget about the doors, the locks, the noise, the security and more security. It’s the effects of 2.6 – Xylenol, Terpinolene and posh French Perfume. The stories are their stories. HMP Liverpool, HMP Hindley, HMP Buckley Hall and HMP Risley.

Post-it Note Perfume Stories

This AO worksheet/ info graphic is a Work In Progress. Over the last two years, the learners at HMP Hindley, HMP Buckley Hall and HMP Liverpool have contributed some of their favourite Perfume Stories and memories. It’s one of the final workshops. In addition to the multi-sensory experience. the project introduces the learners to The Science of Olfaction / Perfume and Literature / Design Practice and Critical Thinking.

The Time Travellers: Alchemy and Essence is now part of Enrichment in Custody and is one of 4 Arts Projects delivering programmes at HMP Hindley, HMP Liverpool and HMP Styal. This is funded by Arts Council England. This is part of the HMPPS agenda around rehabilitation and reform.

Many of the learners loved the science and the facts. In particular, the links between Jasmine and the fecal smell of indole. But as Paola Tataro points out in her brilliant book On The Scent ( Tataro,2022 ) In western culture, we have very few words that describe smells. In custody, the learners have their own unique layer of language. Such as ‘smoking fish’ which means smoking spice – this is not the vindaloo curry variety.

Ketamine and Time Travel

Perfume Stories: The Time Travellers

The last of the pilot workshops have ran at the Recovery Unit at HMP Hindley and the Education Wing at HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale. This project is now funded by ACE England. A collaboration with Novus / Enrichment in Custody. Novus is the market leader of education in UK prisons; supporting rehabilitation programmes in three of the participating prisons. HMP Hindley, HMP Buckley Hall and HMP Liverpool.

Of all our senses, olfaction is especially involved in forming and remembering emotional associations Tollas,S ( 2010) Life is Everywhere Mono Kulture 23.

I redesigned the diagram (see above) to help explain the neural journey and how scent works for the new groups of learners. Some additional things I learned – How rose water was used to disguise Ketamine shipments from India in the 1980’s and how a professional car thief wouldn’t bother stealing my car.

My future can be seen in the mirror of my choosing. From today I will remember good things. I am aware of my experience, I will teach myself how to feel healthy. I will look in the mirror and smile back. So my future will smell good. 

F.D HMP Hindley 

HMP Hindley

Perfume Stories: Part Four

This is not HMP Hindley.
It’s the HMP Hindley Visitors Car Park. I’m not sure buses stop here.

I was invited back by Novus to run a series of Perfume Stories sessions at HMP Hindley. A Category C Prison, somewhere between Bamfurlong and West Houghton, in the North West. I spent 8 weeks working with two groups of learners in two different parts of the Prison.

The Prisoners always have fish on Fridays at HMP Hindley. If you are lucky enough to have a Chinese money launderer and a prisoner with a hotplate on your wing, you can pool the cold chips, heat them up, add garlic, salt and pepper, Chinese chip shop style.

The first group session ran for 4 weeks in the library, helping me to coordinate the group was the librarian, Sue. She told me the most popular books in the library were about Crime and Criminality. Her easy going professionalism made the workshop environment a really positive one to work in.

One of the learners response to the Perfumes was to return to his mothers bedside at a Palliative Care Ward in Liverpool. Another re experienced the smell of his fathers work van, when they were small and lived a different life. One of the most curious stories was from a learner who was returned to the sensation he experienced at a house in the North of England. It was haunted. This particular Learner was instrumental in shaping and redesigning a large infographic which will eventually map out a timeline for these narratives.

The title Perfume Stories was always a difficult sell to a few of the learners. Most were inquisitive, however the feedback suggested they were put off signing up, because of associations with the word ‘Perfume’.

One of the Prisoners contributions to a new Infographic (work in progress)

In his visceral and searing book about the US Prison system, In The Belly of The Beast (1981)Jack Henry Abbott, talks about memory being arrested in jail, how it changes and begins to tear itself free from facts and reality. Perhaps, that’s why the Prisoners at HMP Liverpool and HMP Hindley have responded so well to Perfume Stories. It can fold back time. They become Time Travellers.

Time Travel: an extract

If a time traveller from 100 years ago walked into a prison today – whether one of the inner-city Victorian prisons or the new-builds where the majority of men are held – the similarities would trump the differences. They would recognise the smells and the sounds, the lack of activity and probably some of the staff. It is not only the buildings that have stayed the same – it is the whole ethos of the institution.        

Frances Crook / the Howard League for Penal Reform The Guardian 10.08.21

I returned to HMP Liverpool on Friday 21 May 2021. My Learners were all located on one specific wing of the prison. We were to interview the learners at the cell doors. The noise and environment remained a big challenge.  Working directly on the wing and at the cell door meant that in addition to the conversations with the individuals, I was trying to process my own experience. Working on the VP wing (Vulnerable Prisoners) raised many of the standard moral arguments about these types of Learners. Many of the Learners are on the wing because they owe debt or would struggle within the main prison cohort.

One of the potential issues issues is that you have to pause or wait between experiencing each scent. A few of the group felt all the perfumes smelled the same. If you don’t pace or have a break, the nose will stop detecting any nuances or significant differences.On the return visit, they were more aware of the subtleties. This can be due to the base notes that are more lasting. I was asked to return with more samples.

From a Design and Illustration perspective, I had placed far too much emphasis on the visual output, the graphs and diagrams. How I wanted the work to look. This is a common factor from a discipline that normally has to borrow seriousness from other disciplines. I often use the idea of free association with post grad and undergrad students. I was hoping it challenged some of the learners expectations about where this project may lead. The reaction from this group was really revealing.

Mental escapism, the project translates you far beyond the prison walls.

Good project, it had me thinking.

I was surprised how powerful the project was in evoking memories – I enjoyed it though.

It held my attention, unusual, unique, interesting – different from any other education in here.

‘Magic’ – the connections to the scents got me to think and I can see links to poetry.

Positive experience in a place like this.

Different initiative, it transported me back to primary school.

It was boss, I enjoyed exploring the activity.

.

A short poem about what is happening in Liverpool and Everywhere

Quote

Note to the reader: this is not a poem

The pictures are falling from my walls.                                                                            Because the paint is too heavy.                                                                                    Illusionary landscapes are real landscapes now.                                                                    No need for tonality or warmth of colour.                                                                                Now I write another poem that nobody will read.                                                                There is loneliness in these words                                                                                          I tell you the supposed reader in plain terms.                                                                  There is no need to hide behind poetry                                                                                  I won’t try to be clever with you.       

Helen Ivory                                     

I’ve been documenting advertising billboards across Liverpool and the North West of England for a couple of years. See my post – Gerhard Richter. From Stoke to North Liverpool. You can see the effects of Brexit and now Covid, across these unloved and weathered spaces on Great Homer Street and Derby Road.

There’s another emerging narrative, a post lockdown, anti lockdown and disinformation war raging across the uk. With our economy falling off a cliff and posh people fleeing posh ski resorts. There is some comfort in these small landscapes. The tangible writ large. You only have to stop and look. We stopped really looking for such a long time. Drawing is about looking and seeing.

I won’t try to be clever with you. 

 

 

Perfume Stories two and more

Tate Exchange Liverpool, Italian teenagers and HMP Liverpool

Tate Liverpool is one of my favourite places. My Perfume Stories collaboration with Tate Exchange gave me the opportunity to present my project to a bigger audience. The first floor gallery is a quiet, reflective space. The surroundings offered me the opportunity to rethink, reframe the project and importantly, hide from the mayhem of Christmas shopping.

I ran two workshops with the help of Hibah Annam – who is in her final year on The Graphic Design and Illustration Programme at Liverpool School of Art and gave a lecture. All events were open to the public. The small workshop sessions, the thoughts and reactions of the participants were all recorded with sound engineer, Charlie Warhurst. These sessions revealed some interesting and profound stories. Smell is not like flicking a switch, the peripheral activity about how we react is really complicated.

All human experiences were shared and discussed. Family, childhood memories and mortality. I also discovered that groups of Italian teenagers should be banned from all Art Galleries. They’re either talking on their mobiles phones or working out how to get to third base with the opposite sex. Very very annoying. Vasari would not have approved.

Over the week, I met lots of lovely, new and intelligent people. You can read about my Lecture In Vanessa Musson’s blog

Two

Before the Covid -19 lock down, I was invited by Novus to run my workshop with inmates at HMP Liverpool.
I had to keep this latest version of Perfume Stories under wraps. My new nickname inside HMP Liverpool is ‘ The Perfume Man ‘. This was such a profound and humbling experience. I met lots of interesting people who at some point in their lives, made some pretty bad choices. Despite all the stories, about how awful Walton Prison was, it was bright and full of light. It was a really sunny day. I was introduced to support workers and staff who are trying to make a difference to the inmates lives and help rehabilitate them. One of the aims is to explore how these memory experiences may offer a different voice to examine adult literacy.

I was nervous. Who wouldn’t be ? I wasn’t sure the inmates would get my project. The staff were friendly and relaxed. After four or five doors, I was a little shocked to see the prisoners, standing around in groups. This first encounter, they looked like a group of young teenagers. Some of them looked much too young to be in prison. The conditions were much better than I expected. I felt sorry for the prisoners. On leaving one of the last sections, there was a yoga session that had concluded, the yoga teacher stood outside. There was a lovely smell of burning oil and calm. This piece of the normality, seemed like a beautiful exotic visitor.

The individual prisoners made a great impression on me. I didn’t think it would make me reflect so much about my own individual life choices and decisions. Statistics state that 50 percent of UK prisoners have reading skills at or below the level of an 11 year old child.

more from The Perfume Man.

I’m currently working on the Covid-19 distance learning version of Perfume Stories.

More to follow

Perfume Stories



This project brings together Alchemy,Olfaction and Synaesthesia
to examine memories and narratives. 
These narratives can reveal stories that are based on our
unique personal experiences. 

The stories themselves often have real value, providing vivid references
and a gateway to thinking creatively or shaping and giving meaning to
our own history. The hypothesis around this idea explores the
proposition of the value of a multi sensory experience in Art.  
We experience drawings in the same way that smell can provide a trigger for memory and sensation. 

Perfume Stories is a different way to experience Tate Liverpool.