How smell connects us to a changing world

Tarsh Bates, researcher and artist at Umeå Institute of Design and the Department of Molecular Biology, is investigating how climate change affects the way species sense and survive in their environments. Her project Scentsory Foraging begins with the reindeer’s growing struggle to smell the lichen they depend on, and expands into a broader exploration of how scent connects us to place, memory and ecological change.

Can reindeer still smell the lichen they depend on? As Arctic climates shift, this question becomes more than poetic. It signals a growing ecological concern. Reindeer lichen, rich in carbohydrates and essential vitamins, is a vital winter food source. Yet rising temperatures and erratic freeze-thaw cycles are forming ice layers that block scent trails, making it harder for reindeer to forage. In response, imported lichen is often used as a substitute, but this unfamiliar diet can disrupt digestion and lead to long-term health issues.

This summer, researcher and artist Tarsh Bates explored this multispecies dilemma through her project Scentsory Foraging, developed at the UmArts Research Centre Studio. Her work investigates how scent chemicals move through ecologies and how climate change disrupts these invisible exchanges.

Smell as ecological memory

Scentsory Foraging invites us to consider smell not only as a sensory experience but as a form of ecological memory. The project kicked of with workshops on 4 and 5 May, part of the Scents of Solastalgia project developed by Bates and Susan Hauri-Downing at PICA. These sessions encouraged participants to reflect on how the smells around them have changed, whether through construction, climate change or other forces, and to share memories and emotions tied to scent. The workshops explored tools for understanding how smell connects with our feelings about environmental change and how creating new smellscapes can foster a sense of agency and connection.

Tarsh Bates during a workshop session.

On 15 August, Tarsh Bates hosted a live distillation of Umeå’s summer scents, capturing the fleeting aromas of the season. From 16 August to 3 September, the studio held open sessions where visitors contributed scented biomatter such as plants, soil and leaves from environments that hold personal or ecological significance.

Exploring the elusiveness of smell

Scentsory Foraging is part of a broader transdisciplinary research initiative that explores the elusive nature of smell in multispecies relationships. Bates’s work challenges conventional boundaries between art, science and design, asking how scent can be used to rethink place-making, ecological connections and the impacts of colonial and capitalist overconsumption.

In Arctic environments, smell is not merely atmospheric. It is a survival tool. As climate change alters these sensory landscapes, Bates’s research reminds us that even the most ephemeral signals, such as the scent of lichen, carry profound ecological and emotional weight.

Have you noticed that the smells around you have changed? Do you miss the old smells or welcome the new ones? Bates’s work invites us to explore these questions and to let scent guide us toward deeper ecological awareness and multispecies empathy.