May You Be Welcomed by Good Spirits is an installation and part of Vanessa Brown’s solo exhibition titled Time After Time at Passages Centre d’art contemporain in Troyes, France.
May - Aug 2025
Curated by Maëla Bescond
In May You Be Welcomed by Good Spirits, Brown draws on research from the historic Apothecary at the Hôtel Dieu-Le-Comte in Troyes. Imagery inspired by the material ephemera at the Apothecary fills the windows of the Wintergarden. The Latin word “Salve,” inlaid in mosaic on the floor—meaning both “welcome” and “healing balm”—became the conceptual starting point for the work in this room. Brown created beeswax diffusers that emit carefully formulated essential oil blends, developed in collaboration with clinical herbalist Niki Boghossian. The work connects historical modes of healing with contemporary herbal knowledge, layering scent, memory, and atmosphere to reactivate the apothecary’s legacy in the present.
Mosaic entrance to Wintergarden at CAC Passages