Saba, the perfumes of Being

“The sun has reflected itself within me…”

(The Song of Songs, trans. André Chouraqui)

Images like a journey in the footsteps of one of the most celebrated figures in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Ethiopian traditions: the mythical Queen of Sheba.

Between masculine and feminine, near and far, wisdom and intuition, this series of illustrations explores, in particular, the theme of encountering the Other and discovering the Other within oneself.

Resonating with the ten or so images created using mixed media and collage on paper, this interpretation of the encounter between the mysterious sovereign and the majestic King Solomon has, over time, become the subject of a unique olfactory experience conceived by olfactotherapist Cécile Bellaud and presented for the first time at the Abbey of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer.