This group of artists paid a tribute to Empress Market by curating Pakistan’s first smell map, ‘Scentscape’

Recently ProperGaanda came across a pretty cool ‘sensory map of Saddar’ which was designed by a freelance packaging, magazine, and graphic designer, named Fabaiha Khalid(@curatedbyfabaiha). We made contact with the talented artist and asked her about this interesting venture and how she designed this unique smell map. The project was conducted in Empress Market, Saddar. About the artist: “I took a course ‘Theories of Visual Studies’ in my final year of media studies from SZABIST. We were in a group of 4 and were assigned to design a smell map. We did the fieldwork together and I was responsible for designing the entire map,” the artist shared the ideation with us. The map was designed right before the encroachment of the site.

Smell walk: The process of formulating the map The radius : The smell walk was spread across two days and at different times of the day. Inside 0.5 km radius from Empress Market. Some famous places that are situated within the radius include Regal Chowk, Press Club, Jehangir Park, Metropole Saddar, and Atrium Mall.

The first walk: “On the first day, we started at Empress Market at 4:30 p.m. We first walked inside the market, hunting and marking various distinctive smells.” Fabaiha shared how they kickstarted the journey. The group then walked towards Atrium Mall, covering Bohri Bazaar and Khyber Hotel on their way.

The second walk: As they continued their venture, for their next walk they began at 10:30 a.m. “We roamed around different stalls inside the market. We went towards M. A Jinnah Road signal, International Bara market, and Jehangir Landa Bazar,” Fabaiha named a few more locations in Sadar. The conclusion: “Towards the end of our walk, we recorded ninety-three smells sectioned under twenty-nine categories,” the artist shared the results. As each category of smell was given a specific color. The strong scent of spices was given red color whereas, the light presence of dust and smoke was given different shades of grey. Fabaiha clarified that the intensity of the smells is shown by the dots in their ‘Scentscape.’

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