Jacques Nimki: A&E Perfume
Jacques Nimki, A&E, Perfume in glass bottles in bespoke perspex display case, 2013. On Display at London Art Fair
Vital Arts commissioned Jacques Nimki to undertake several site-specific projects in various acute areas of the Royal London Hospital, including in the Relatives Room and the adjacent Viewing Room in A&E, the Paediatric A&E in the hospital’s former building, and in the Neo Natal Unit.
The artist works with plants that are found in the urban environment – the overlooked signs of life trampled underfoot. For these commission, he spent months building an inventory and researching the weeds and wild flowers found growing all around the hospital and the local Whitechapel area. His commissions celebrate the simple beauty of these wild plants, urging visitors to notice the poetry latent in the everyday.
As an extension to these projects with us, Nimki later created a perfume from the wildflowers that grow around the Royal London Hospital. Entitled A&E, the delicate fragrance is made of Gallant Soldier, Chickweed, Geranium Robertianum, among others found around the Whitechapel site.
The fragrance was featured at the London Art Fair in 2014, and further showcased during Vital Arts’ Arts & Health programme during the very first Tate Exchange in March 2017.
