COLLECTION: Layla Doueidi

Layla Doueidi is an interdisciplinary artist who worked mainly with media such as photography and video during her two years of bachelor studies. Recently she has added installations with smells and wax. Layla explores human sensations, emotions and perceptions. Her research is based on the reading of Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time', and the connection between olfactory perception, human emotions and olfactory memory. She uses scent as an aspect that goes back to her father's influence as a perfume maker, which sparked her curiosity to connect it with photography and other visual forms.

Doueidi's works were shown in several group exhibitions including Realms of the experimental, Xposure, Sharjah, UAE (2023); Exit show 2024, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE (2024) . In 2024, the artist received a Bachelor with Honor of Fine Arts from the University of Sharjah, College of Fine Arts and Design, Sharjah, UAE. The artist was born in Beirut in 2001 and currently lives in Sharjah.

Artwork statement

Three entities and a manifesto    |   كيان وبيان

Scents are an embodied language, with potential equivalent to words, sensory, and invisible to the eye. They compel humans to discover what lies beyond the surface, imposing systems and laws that mimic memories and sensory systems. These scents function like vocabulary, expressing what is difficult to express, narrating the human person's history, personal characteristics, and even what lies hidden deep within. These olfactory systems form the equivalent of an entity evoking memories, emotions, and identities. 

Three entities and a manifesto redefines portraits as a reflection emanating from within the individual, narrating their unique personal details, reflected in physiological features centered in the person's eyes, face, and shoulders which reflects the artist's personal style of communication with other selves. It reconstructs the intellectual and sensory olfactory system, redefining the linguistic system by presenting new foundations through sensations and essential oils. 
Kiaan (كيان) is a series composed of scented wax artifacts that reflect the personal interpretations of three individuals through aromatic compositions, and description texts. Each entity reflects the artist's reading of the person shaped by the nuances of communication- whether through deep bonds or fleeting encounters- with absolute freedom, relying on observation, intuition, and interaction.

Manifesto (بيان) is a statement that reflects the artist's intellectual approach and the methodology of interaction with olfactory art, introducing a new system of communication between the artist and the visitors. This system is reused to awaken the lost deepen connections due to information overload, expanding our capacity for meaningful communication. This work disrupts that numbness, shifting perspective, and reawaken awareness in human presence. 

The work redefines the maps of our connections, reshaping how we perceive others beyond the surface and guiding us into a world beyond the tangible. It invites us to place scent at the forefront of sensory experience, compelling us to reconnect with the past while grounding us in the present, offering a moment of stillness amid the rush of life.