Mitchell's new work, Iris, Iris, Iris, was produced specifically for this exhibition following a multi-faceted research process that included research into traditional Japanese incense and a scientific analysis of various fragrances. This body of work explores the diverse meanings of the word "iris", seeking to link the ocular and the olfactory.

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Displayed in this laboratory-like exhibition space are "invisible" materials such as incense and perfume, combined with elements related to the act of seeing: the iris of the eye, the iris used in the aperture of a camera, the Greek goddess Iris, and other objects related to the manifold meanings of "iris" – among them a traditional Japanese janome ("snake's eye") umbrella fabricated to mimic the colour of the artist's own irises, alongside images of Mitchell's irises taken when he was ten years old by an iridologist.

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Inspired by the belief in tsukumogami ("tool spirits") said to dwell in various well-used tools and implements, Mitchell has also used gas chromatography mass spectrometry – a technique used in perfumery to analyse the "headspace" surrounding objects – to quantify the invisible spirits surrounding the iris flower, the iris of the camera, and the iris in the form of a janome umbrella.

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Iris Perfume

Irises are plants belonging to the iris genus. Although the iris's fragrance is not conspicuous in nature, this work consists of a perfume produced in collaboration with Takasago International Corporation, the largest fragrance manufacturer in Japan. This artificial fragrance reproduces the lyrical, composite fragrance not just of the iris plant, but also the fragrance emitted by the iris of a camera and the iris of a janome umbrella fabricated in the colour of the artist's own iris. This liquid, continually agitated by a stirrer, synthesises three types of iris – while perhaps also volatilising their invisible spirits at the same time.

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Fusego

In The Tale of Genji, a kimono is draped over the fusego, a basket whose base contains an incense burner that imparts fragrance to the wearer's clothing. Mitchell's two solid brass fusego each contain perfume and incense. The cloth hanging from each fusego is printed with a photograph of Mitchell's iris, taken when he was ten years old in the course of an experiment conducted by an iridologist.

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Janome

Janome – taking its name from the Japanese for "snake's eye" – is a concentric pattern that became a popular form of adornment for paper umbrellas during the Edo period, commonly used by priests and doctors. In Japan, it is believed that spirits called tsukumogami ("tool spirits") dwell in various well-used tools and implements. A well-known example is the karakasa kozō, a yokai creature in the shape of an umbrella. The janome umbrella on display here was fabricated to match the colour of the artist's own irises.

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Iris and Camera Lens

Just as the pupil of an eye regulates the amount of light it receives, cameras have an adjustable aperture function called an "iris" that regulates brightness. Iris is also the name of a Greek goddess – both a messenger and the personification of the rainbow. Olympus, the Japanese manufacturer of optical devices, takes its name from Mount Olympus, home to many deities of Greek mythology and the site to which Iris was dispatched as a messenger.

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Iris Incense

The culture of incense has long seen it used as a clock, a way of marking time. The 500 incense sticks (80 kilograms) on display in this exhibition represent the equivalent of five years burned consecutively. Irises are said to require propagation by root division every five years – a period understood to represent their life cycle.

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In realising this exhibition, we are grateful for the tremendous technical support and production assistance of Shoyeido Incense Co. and Takasago International Corporation. We are equally thankful to Obayashi Corporation for their sponsorship of this series, and to Creative New Zealand for their support of this co-commission.

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I come to Japan as an outsider – a New Zealand artist working within a cultural landscape not his own. This position of exteriority is neither disavowed nor overclaimed in Iris, Iris, Iris; rather, it becomes part of the work's logic. The research that underpins the exhibition moves between registers that are, in some sense, always already foreign to one another: scientific analysis and spiritual belief, the olfactory and the ocular. I place these forms in proximity to other ways of knowing that his practice has long explored.

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There is a risk, of course, in any such encounter: that fascination flattens the complexity of what it touches. The work does not resolve this tension so much as hold them open. The umbrella fabricated to the colour of my own irises is a case in point – an object produced within a craft tradition, yet calibrated to the most intimate detail of the my own body. The encounter between self and other here is neither comfortable nor complete. It remains, like the scent that dissipates before it is fully registered, something only partially knowable – and perhaps more honest for that. Maybe?