Thanatos

Thanatos is a multi-sensory installation centring on an eponymous original perfume that evokes the scent of a decomposing body discovered in a woodland.

The perfume is the result of a collaboration between the artist Eric Fong, perfumer Euan McCall and forensic anthropologist Dr Anna Williams, whose research on the 400+ volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted during human decomposition underpins the project.

The installation comprises four distinct but interrelated elements: the perfume Thanatos displayed as a physical product; the scent of Thanatos, experienced through interaction with a sculpture modelled of an autopsy table; The Search, a suspenseful short film of a search for a cadaver in a forest; and photographs of staged crime scenes taken at the Crime Scene House at the Forensic Anthropology Department at Teesside University.

Thanatos considers the bodily processes that occur after death and the advances in forensic science that help us to better understand them.

Exhibition, screening and events:
9 Jan – 23 Feb 2020: Phoenix, Leicester
26 Feb – 13 Mar 2020: Constantine Gallery, Teesside University, Middlesbrough

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.