Olfactory art

Alexandra was born in France but grew up in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, a region that continues to inspire her artistic journey. In her early years as a visual artist, she worked in acrylic and oil, including multiple essays with dry pigments using ancient techniques (egg tempera) of Italian painters. She gradually integrates into her works (2005), impressions of her digital creations made from photographs which she then transforms. From 2010, her approach was in search of a new medium allowing her to bring together all five senses in her practice. What if art could emerge from an invisible material? She turned to perfumery in order to master its composition.

The olfactory art allows her to put forward in her work, her interest in botany and historical archives. Since 2015, she creates olfactory art installations linked to history, with an interest in the enhancement of women and seeks to awaken in an unsuspected way, memories related with time. She composes each perfumes that are part of the narrative of her artwork. 

INTERNATIONAL OLFACTORY ART EXHIBITIONS
> Omaggio a l'Italia, terra di profumi (2023)
Milan - Italie
> Fleurs d'armes  (2018)
Vimy -France

OLFACTORY ART EXHIBITIONS IN CANADA

> Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus (2023)

> Sfumato Invisibile (2019)
Or The invisible aura of Mona Lisa		> WAR Flowers (2017-2021)
International Touring Art Exhibition
> My life at the Textile (2017- 2020)
Hymn to the weavers		> MementoTourigny-Laforest
Permanent installation In situ (2017)

LECTURES ON THE ART OF PERFUME

> June 14, 2023 I Canal M. radio program “Vivement les Femmes» Alexandra Bachand, olfactory poet. Hosted by Marjorie Théodore

> March 22, 2020  I Canadian Centre for Architecture, CCA) 38th FIFA - International Festival of Films on Art "SFUMATO INVISIBILE or the Invisible Aura of Monna Lisa. Interview with olfactory artist & perfumer Alexandra Bachand and director Eric Delbaere

> February 12, 2020 6 pm I McCord Museum - Fashion at the MuseumParfums d'ici, hosted by Stephane Le Duc.Interview with perfumers Alexandra Bachand,Isabelle Michaud, Julie S. Jones

> November 7, 2019 I Culturel Centre Sherbrooke University - Danse seriesAfter bubble eventAlexandra Bachand I Live perfume writing in front of an audience inspired by Virginie Brunelle's show "Les corps avalés

> May 4, 2019 I Experimental Scent Summit 2019, AmsterdamI Curator: The Institute for Art and Olfaction + Smell Lab BerlinAlexandra Bachand I Immersive art through historical olfactory recreation

> March 11, 2019 I Chateau Ramezay Museum MontrealAlexandra Bachand I WAR Flowers: an immersive and olfactory narrative through the art of perfume

Alexandra Bachand has a degree in perfumery and has studied with independent perfumers in France and the United States. She has a background in design graphic and multimedia, a certificate in visual arts, as well as a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from Bishops University in Lennoxville.

Her artistic approach is based on the art of perfume, which she formulates and designs within installations as a major art medium. Her work seeks to convey an immersive narrative through history in order to pay tribute to the past. The process of writing the perfume is thus fundamental, conveying all the work of emotionality of the artist. This excludes any perspective of a simple odorization. The artistic work is the perfume itself formulated by the creator. This medium implies a long period of writing, then composition of the perfume made exclusively by the artist, in order to transmit all the authenticity necessary to convey a narrative framework in all its emotionality. Alexandra draws on historical research to compose the perfume, like olfactory artifacts with the intention of communicating a symbolic dimension imbued with poetry.

"Of all the qualities of perfume, the most striking is that of transporting us through memories and time. Guided by emotions, olfaction awakens small fragments of the past that allows us to connect in a precious way, otherwise impossible." - Alexandra

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Olfactory art projects resume

From 2017 to 2021, the art exhibition "War Flowers" in which she exhibits 10 scented narratives, has been presented in 7 museum institutions in Canada and abroad has been seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors to date.In 2019, she made a major project in Italy: the olfactory art installation of Sfumato Invisibile on the trail of Lisa Gherardini confirming the perfume as a major art medium. Sfumato Invisibile's approach was the subject of a short documentary that was presented at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in 2020.


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WAR FLOWERS EXHIBITION: interview with Viveka Melki and Alexandra Bachand, perfumer artist of the exhibition, curator of the olfactory component.