Gayil Nalls
Encyclopedia
Gayil Nalls, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist and theorist living in New York City
and Hudson Valley, New York. Her artistic practice originates in philosophical investigations of personal and collective sensory experiences, memory and identity, and often include the relationship of these experiences to disappearing ecologies. She has been a pioneer in the field of olfactory art (art that emphasizes the sense of smell), and an influential contributor to the aesthetics of crowds and human massing. Her multimedia work frequently unites scientific and technological approaches to art-making, exploring the boundaries between the two.
, Parsons School of Design, American University
and The Corcoran School
. In 2007, she earned her doctorate in the aesthetics and science of olfaction from The University of East London
in the United Kingdom.
Gayil Nalls’ work has been featured in twenty-seven solo exhibitions, including six at galleries in New York City. Her work has also been included in over 100 group exhibitions. Her paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, prints and olfactory sculptures can be found in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art
, the National Museum of American Art and numerous other public and private collections. She has created several multimedia installation works and large-scale public commissions as well. In 2005, Nalls completed the September 11th Memorial for The City of White Plains, New York
.
2000 millennial celebration in New York City. Following ten years of ethnobotanical research, including a world survey establishing the most culturally relevant natural scent of each nation and territory, Nalls composed World Sensorium from botanical essences blended proportionally according to each nation’s fraction in the overall world population in the year 2000. For the Times Square 2000 millennial celebration, the “world scent,” as it is described by Nalls, dropped over the crowd at midnight on specially-designed, microencapsulated paperworks.
Calling upon her own scientific research into the link between scent, memory, neurology, and crowd theory, World Sensorium seeks to evoke a global memory and evolve a metabolic and empathetic collective in addition to the technological collective created through mass media coverage. A second formula of World Sensorium, based on statistical projections of the world population in 2010, forms the visceral medium for a multimedia work-in-progress currently being created by Nalls.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Hudson Valley, New York. Her artistic practice originates in philosophical investigations of personal and collective sensory experiences, memory and identity, and often include the relationship of these experiences to disappearing ecologies. She has been a pioneer in the field of olfactory art (art that emphasizes the sense of smell), and an influential contributor to the aesthetics of crowds and human massing. Her multimedia work frequently unites scientific and technological approaches to art-making, exploring the boundaries between the two.
Biography
Nalls was born in Washington, D.C. in 1953. She studied at Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
, Parsons School of Design, American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
and The Corcoran School
Corcoran School
Corcoran School is an historic school at 40 Walnut Street in Clinton, Massachusetts.The school was built by Charles Bateman and added to the National Historic Register in 2000....
. In 2007, she earned her doctorate in the aesthetics and science of olfaction from The University of East London
University of East London
The University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...
in the United Kingdom.
Gayil Nalls’ work has been featured in twenty-seven solo exhibitions, including six at galleries in New York City. Her work has also been included in over 100 group exhibitions. Her paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, prints and olfactory sculptures can be found in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, DC. The museum's main focus is American art. The permanent collection includes works by Rembrandt, Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Thomas Gainsborough, John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Pablo...
, the National Museum of American Art and numerous other public and private collections. She has created several multimedia installation works and large-scale public commissions as well. In 2005, Nalls completed the September 11th Memorial for The City of White Plains, New York
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
.
Works
While Nalls continues to work across several media, her artistic practice has grown progressively more conceptual over the course of her career. She is best-known for her olfactory sculpture, World Sensorium, an on-going project that premiered at the Times SquareTimes Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
2000 millennial celebration in New York City. Following ten years of ethnobotanical research, including a world survey establishing the most culturally relevant natural scent of each nation and territory, Nalls composed World Sensorium from botanical essences blended proportionally according to each nation’s fraction in the overall world population in the year 2000. For the Times Square 2000 millennial celebration, the “world scent,” as it is described by Nalls, dropped over the crowd at midnight on specially-designed, microencapsulated paperworks.
Calling upon her own scientific research into the link between scent, memory, neurology, and crowd theory, World Sensorium seeks to evoke a global memory and evolve a metabolic and empathetic collective in addition to the technological collective created through mass media coverage. A second formula of World Sensorium, based on statistical projections of the world population in 2010, forms the visceral medium for a multimedia work-in-progress currently being created by Nalls.
External links
- http://www.gayilnalls.com/ Artist's website.
- http://www.worldsensorium.com/ Website on the world olfactory social sculpture, World Sensorium.
- http://smartlab.uel.ac.uk/new2009/?page_id=1005 Webpage for Dr. Gayil Nalls, Associate Senior Researcher, SMARTLab, University of East London, UK.
- http://firstnerve.com/2009/04/portrait-of-artist-gayil-nalls.html Recent interview with Gayil Nalls.
- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/nyregion/keeping-the-public-eye-on-things-beautiful.html?scp=2&sq=gayil%20nalls&st=cse Discussion of a proposed public artwork for the City of White Plains, NY, by Gayil Nalls.