This paper examines China’s olfactory culture of the Song Dynasty and explores the intersensory aesthetics between scent and visuality to search for a Contemporary artistic rendition of the traditional practices. The project conducts research on synaesthesia-related theories in Chinese aesthetic tradition, such as Nose Contemplation (biguan, 鼻观), aiming to untangle the mystery of olfactory imagery in Chinese culture and investigating how this aesthetics of synaesthesia can be revived in the setting of contemporary art-making and meditational multisensory photography.
Incorporating research outcomes from textual analysis, poetry and art historical case studies, personal meditation exercises and incense-making practices, this study demonstrates that visual artistic mediums, such as photography, can trigger or be infused with intersensory experience through olfactory meditational skills of utilizing Qi. There are two potential ways to aromatize the visual: first, through a pictorial composition and through self-moral cultivation and dismissal of secular desire. The process of scenting one’s art with Qi constitutes a contemporary meditative artistic practice, which I term Olfactory Photography.