Two memories of one mother's death, room 4
Years of the entire project implementation: process started in 2019 - completed in 2024

One of the five olfactory installations made of handmade paper with different scents and materials associated with specific memories and rituals, which co-exists with books and video.

ROOM 4

Intense scent of herbal mixtures.

Handmade paper installation consisting of 2 objects, 950 pages
dimensions of objects: 180 x 150 cm; 180 x 150 cm
size of a single page: 11 x 7 cm
material: cellulose from leaves, inflorescences, roots, stems, seeds, fruits, rhizomes of expired herbal waste (from herbal mixtures for various ailments)
technique: handmade paper, own technique

Barbara Mydlak’s project Two memories of one mother’s death experimentally investigates the removal and modification of traumatic memories
by retrieval, reconstruction of events and conscious repetition of them, referring to cognitive psychology research on the reconsolidation of memories.

In addition to the two-volume dissertation, which presents both scientific and poetic perspectives, Mydlak created five handmade paper installations.
These installations were designed for specific places for her family home, the layout of which is featured on the cover of the five small books that accompany the thesis.

The semi-transparent handmade paper objects take the form of curtains constructed from a total of 2,000 one-of-a-kind pages of different sizes.
Each curtain is made from specific materials associated with memories of a particular space: herbal mixtures, flowers, pine needles, burnt books mixed with candle wax, and mourning clothes, all having the intense scents to trigger recollections.

Curtains, symbolically, exist ‘in between’ on the boundary of worlds – separating ‘the living’ from ‘the dead’,
‘the past’ from ‘the present’, ‘here’ and ‘there’ and are giving the special meaning to the spaces they divide.
They can conceal an ‘alternate reality’, hide secrets, create intimacy and are crucial in theater for separating the ‘fictional’ from ‘the real’,
as well as the stage from the audience. They serve a technical role by marking ‘the beginning’ and ‘end’ of spectacle.
By lifting the curtain, the audience becomes observers or active participants in the event.

These ‘large-scale books’ have been written
without words but with the nature of hydrogen bonds,
while guiding the process through hand gesture,
water flow, and physical interactions.

You can read them once
the light exposes their fibrous skeleton.

Having natural, light-sensitive pigments in their fibers,
they act as photographic membranes
that record the light and traces of the windows’ shapes.
These objects are ephemeral and slowly decaying.

The cellulose has been derived from the following parts of ‭herbal species:
Licorice root / Radix Glycyrrhizae
Strawberry leaf / Folium Fragariae
Field horsetail / Equisetum arvense
Hawthorn inflorescence / Inflorescentia Crataegi
Pine buds / Gemmae Pini
Cornflower flower / Flos Centaureae cyani
Sage leaf / Folium Salviae
Fennel fruit / Fructus Foeniculum vulgare
Thyme herb / Herba Thymi
Primrose flower / Flos Primulae
Black elderberry flower / Flos Sambuci nigri
Wood speedwell herb / Herba Veronicae officinalis
Walnut leaf / Folium Juglandis
Buckthorn bark / Cortex Rhamni cathartici
Coltsfoot leaf / Folium Tussilaginis
Marigold flower / Flos Calendulae
Rosemary leaf / Folium Rosmarini
Chamomile flower / Flos Chamomillae
Burdock root / Radix Arctii
Black elderberry fruit / Fructus Sambuci nigri
Valerian root / Radix Valerianae
Marigold flower / Flos Calendulae
Licorice root / Radix Glycyrrhizae
Iceland moss / Cetraria islandica
Ground flaxseed / Semina Lini molita
Valerian root / Radix Valerianae
Peppermint leaf / Folium Menthae piperitae
Wild rose fruit / Fructus Rosae caninae
Rowan fruit / Fructus Sorbi aucupariae
Hawthorn fruit / Fructus Crataegi
Black currant leaf / Folium Ribis nigri
Nettle leaf / Folium Urticae
Cat's claw powder / Pulvis Uncariae tomentosae
Chamomile root / Radix Chamomillae
Cinquefoil rhizome / Rhizoma Potentillae
Calamus rhizome / Rhizoma Acori calami
Yarrow herb / Herba Achilleae millefolii
White sage leaf / Folium Salviae apianae
Tansy flower / Flos Tanaceti
Rosemary herb / Herba Rosmarini
Dandelion flower / Flos Taraxaci
Common juniper / Juniperus communis
Common verbena / Verbena officinalis
Angelica root / Radix Angelicae


The installation is part of Barbara Mydlak’s PhD completed at the Faculty of Painting and Drawing, Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland
Public defence of the doctorate: 28.06.2024, Jesuits' Gallery, Poznan, Poland
Dissertation Promoter: Prof. dr hab. Anna Goebel