McBride describes her creation of the scents for this exhibition
David Blackwood: Myth & Legend features two original mixed-media compositions of natural essences and synthetic aroma molecules inspired by Blackwood’s artistic practice and themes in his prints. Given the volume of natural materials in the compositions, these scents will change and evolve over time, offering a different experience to visitors over the duration of the exhibition. The scents strike a symbolic contrast between culture and nature, hot and cold, life and death, and bridging myth and realism. The purpose of these scents is to offer a sensory experience of the artworks that invites visitors to participate in meaning-making and deciphering both familiar and unfamiliar smells. Visitors are encouraged to reflect on their own subjective associations, lived experiences, and emotional responses to the scents.
About Melanie McBride
Dr. Melanie McBride is a Toronto-based artist-practitioner, researcher, and founder of the Aroma Inquiry Lab at Metropolitan University’s Responsive Ecologies Lab. She is trained in perfumery and has conducted international fieldwork research on the use of scent for cultural heritage mediation. She has led master classes on aroma learning and developed original mixed-media compositions and aromatic learning objects for educational and cultural heritage projects.
CONTEMPORARY ARTIST COMMISSION
Still.Drift.Return (2025) by Jerry Ropson
For this exhibition, Newfoundland-born artist Jerry Ropson created an immersive video work as a contemporary response to David Blackwood’s visual world and geographic heritage. Ropson shared: “I belong to a generation shaped by Blackwood’s imagery ... My response draws from that inherited visual lexicon, filtered through distance, change, and critical affection.... While he archived, I often unsettle. Yet, we both work from a deep respect for what fades and vanishes.” Additionally, the artist created an original soundscape for this work, which includes sounds ranging from wind and water to sputtering boat motors and rhythmic ink rolling on an etching plate.
About the artist
Jerry Ropson is a conceptual artist with an interest in the politics of rural life and its demise, mythology, ritual, the occult, and folklore. He was raised in Ktaqumuk (Newfoundland) in the resettled outport community of Pollards Point and currently resides in Siknikt-Mi’kma’ki (Sackville, New Brunswick).
Jerry Ropson, Still.Drift.Return (still), 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
