M Dougherty
/Forest Bath
February 12 to March 13, 2021
Listen to M Dougherty talk about their art and /FOREST BATH in this interview by Saskia Wilson-Brown.
/FOREST BATH, an intermedia offering by M Dougherty, will be presented from February 12 to March 13, 2021 at Olfactory Art Keller.
After months of a pandemic, political strife, on top of global injustices, loss, and suffering, people are in need of care now more than ever. In New York, sources of environmental care are particularly sparse, and access to these spaces are not guaranteed to New Yorkers. Through this multi-sensory exploration, artist and designer, M Dougherty, attempts to bring the forest and the benefits of forest bathing directly to the city and the people of New York.
With COVID still prevalent, the scent of the forest will be pumped out to the sidewalk; the piece exists outside of the gallery as much as within, so each person can choose how they wish to interact with this work, and in whatever way they are comfortable. Offered primarily through scent, passerby and gallery guests are invited to sit and breath in the forest. A mix of phytoncides and subjective woodland materials, including personally made essential oils, the scent carries the air of the trees and the feeling of being surrounded by nature. As night falls, darkness gives way to visual projections of a forest on the gallery glass, placing each viewer at the base of a tree, in the heart of a forest itself.
Scented objects are scattered throughout the gallery. These wax and mycelium objects are made from mushroom roots, the veins of the forest. Each one carries with it the material of the woods and it’s own scent, one element of the forest. Together, and in unison, these forest fragments make the scent of the forest.