Good Smells are Only for Good Ideas

kiana hipolito

Kiana Hipolito. dulang. time-lapse, mixed media. (2018)

Inspired by the results of colonization, immigration and assimilation, performance installation dulang, explores the unstable and fluid identity of what it means to be a second generation Filipino living in a society that classifies Asians based on cultural stereotypes. Through the strong Filipino tradition of family meals or sharing a boodle fight, performance installation dulang contrasts the North American bowls situated in front of banana leaves signifying the backseat that most immigrating cultures feel when attempting to “fit in.” dulang also smells strongly of fish sauce - a cultural ingredient used in many asian dishes - allows viewers from similar cultures to connect with the piece. The piece gives smelly experience that is often followed by feelings of discomfort and even disgust, ultimately further displacing the piece itself. The canvas emulates a dining table but flipped on its side representing the feeling of cultural disorientation displaced peoples would feel when moving to a new country. Overtime, the piece changes from a hopeful bright vibrant yellow to a dark confused brown. dulang aims to connect with (filipino) diaspora in understanding their own mixed identity and place within North American society.

Debuted in The Show (2018) Emily Carr University’s graduation show, dulang has never been properly showcased as the artist has intended. This is the artist’s pondering as to why this piece is such a difficult work to exhibit and how a lack of understanding and acceptance led a community displaced a piece about displacement.

Although initially approved by Emily Carr University’s graduation committee, there were a variety of difficulties when exhibiting dulang. The piece emulates a sensorial diasporic experience for its viewers primarily through scent. Fish sauce being the dominant scent within the piece is a common ingredient found in Asian cuisine but also reminds the me of childhood comfort food. The type of food that was born out of tradition, love and sacrifice. The type of food that would make your whole day simply because it was a reminder of who you are. Although delicious to some the smell of fish sauce may be an unfamiliar and perhaps even unpleasant scent to others. The purpose of using this specific scent was to allow the viewer to either reconnect to childhood memories through the smell of fish sauce, while simultaneously displacing other viewers who are unfamiliar with certain smells similar to the alienating experience of immigration. I knew that this would be a difficult exhibition to showcase just in terms of the time based nature of the piece, but I suggested that an enclosed room for the work to be situated in would be the best solution. After some back and forth between the graduation committee and other faculty members I was put ease when all of my requests and concerns were addressed with no pushback. This all changed on the day of installation.

dulang was situated right beside an elevator in an open environment. I received a call a day before The Show that the work was no longer acceptable. I was no longer allowed to have my piece’s focal point at the centre. “This smell is distracting for works,” is what they told me. I wanted to be reasonable, to understand but after spending a semester creating, testing, researching and presenting this work to multiple instructors and getting approval by the committee – why is this coming up a day before the show? Nevertheless, I still decided to spray the whole piece with fish sauce. Smelled super good.

A staff member actually approached me with genuine interest saying “Oh… YOU’RE the fish sauce girl.” I got the impression that my work hadn’t been really taken seriously as she slipped to me that “They said oh, for sure we’ll let her do that” with rolling eyes. I realized that I had become another crazy art school story that the faculty tell first years.

Kiana Hipolito. dulang: in process, mixed media. (2018)

I had of course emailed my faculty instructors and was relieved when I was met with sympathy and apologies. In response to the injustice that occurred on the day of The Show, I decided to print out multiple signs and have them placed along side my works a sort of quiet protest. Eventually the signs were removed a few days later. Although dulang no longer had a sensorial effect, at least there was another smell that was present. On the day of the Show the university smelled like buttered popcorn which popped exactly two floors below where my piece was situated. I guess good smells are only for good ideas. Ultimately this experience really affected the way I approached art and altered my feelings towards galleries as a whole. Perhaps I hadn’t truly found my audience after all.