A loose trade paperback self-published series New Orleans takedowns that began a few years back. It was intended to be a ‘trilogy of darkness,’ however the final piece of the series has eluded me. How does one end it poignantly? Maybe best to leave it an unfinished project, much like our fair city. This is the second in the series.
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Text: Timothy Lachin
Olfactory Extraction: Manon Bellet
36 Pages
Trade-paperback
Sealed to preserve Olfactory Extraction
2-color Risograph edition of 200
Now in its second printing
The elusive ‘scented’ second edition of the ‘trilogy of darkness’ series, ‘The Unconscious of New Orleans’ by Timothy Lachin, takes an academic tongue-in-cheek psycho-analytical approach, questioning the very existence of our failed city. Lachin’s style of writing is direct, off-putting, contrarian, and particular in capturing the place that never was or possibly can be.
What makes this edition so special is the collaboration with artist Manon Bellet to produce an olfactory scent that would attempt to capture the rotting essence of New Orleans from this book’s perspective. The book is sealed, containing the smell of sitting water and dirt after a heavy rainstorm—a decay of sorts, emblematic of New Orleans itself, in its founding and current stasis.
I had been drawn to the trade paperback dimension for quite some time and it seemed fitting for these simple readers, containing New Orleans images of yesteryear. I appreciate the constraints of the size and how images and text can interplay with one another at a similar scale.
