DESIGN FELLOWSHIP: SUSANA CÁMARA LERET
Susana Cámara Leret, Artist
Joy Milne, the woman who can smell Parkinson's
Alison Williams, Artist and Researcher
Peter Keston, Neuroradiologist
Curator (for Ginkgo Projects): Mark Daniels, New Media Scotland
Client: Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd. and NHS Lothian
Funded by: NHS Lothian Charity’s Tonic Arts Programme
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity
Throughout her fellowship, Susana Cámara Leret researched health ecologies and the process of olfaction, from the remarkable ability of Joy Milne, who can diagnose Parkinson's Disease by smell alone, to exploring how fragrance on a molecular level can trigger memory.
Working with the radiology department at DCN, she has created 'The Smell of Onyx: Aspirations', a series of hand-blown glass vessels containing the breath of patients who have undergone embolization treatment for Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs) of the brain and spinal cord.
“I wanted to explore the issue that care is something that exists beyond walls. With my work on smell molecules, I was exploring how people related to them in and outside the hospital environment. I was introduced to Joy [Milne, the woman who can smell Parkinson’s] by Dr Tilo Kunath at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine because I’ve been exploring the smell of Parkinson’s as part of the Fellowship... Joy and I immediately connected and we would do smelling exercises...”
“It was the experience of a patient who is living through the progression of the disease and a person who can decipher that progression through smell, but who was also the carer for her husband who died of the disease. It was the unofficial story which does not appear in the case notes." - Susana Cámara Leret
