Scents and Sensibilities

This project mainly explored the relationship between scents and sensibilities.The initial idea came from a friend suffering from Kallman Syndrome, a rare disease, by which the patient gradually looses their sense of smell and has disorders of sexaul development. The existence of this unusual suffering kindled my creative interest.I thereupon began researching the syndrome and also began to explore how patients deal with this in their daily life, and thereby get to understand the emotions of them.
Patients must get themselves injected every day,so that natural hormone levels are maintained. The feeling of being different from others and the rarity of the disease can often leave patients feeling lonely and causes a longing for Senses as felt by others. Throughout patients lives medical complications can occur and their bodies are left scarred from operations.Along with the research for the project I also discovered the importance of our sense of smell. And olfactive researcher Sissel Tolaas made me aware of the fact that our sense of smell is in fact a medium: it can evoke memories, emotions and display desires. Hence my project developed into a display of the emotions that patients of this rare syndrome feel.
From a technological standpoint this project also progresses to a point where emotions and hormones, two rather abstract concepts become visualised. The usage of smoke and hazy lighting conditions is to be seen as a depiction of the confusion and loneliness patients endure. Hence I used pink smoke and a large aperture to shoot the photographs, hoping they would convey the emotions felt by those suffering from Kallman Syndrome. To display the sense of smell, or rather the lack there of I used candy to cover the model's body. Furthermore the candy, here used as prop conveys the daily dependence on medicine by those suffering. To contrast patient's yearning for being able to have a sense of smell and the actual olfactive sensations, I decided to use a fragrant flower greenhouse as location for the shoot.
Credits:
Photographer:Currisa Cheng(Yige Zheng)
Stylist:Renjie Wang River
MUA:CURRISAZ STUDIO
Styling assistant:Xiaoxuan Wei
photography assistant:Sally Shangguan
model:Matt Dyer at FM Models