Younji Choi
Olfactory Shoulder Bracelet, October 2009, 7”X12”X2”, Elastomer, Photopolymer
Olfactory Bracelet, December 2009, 5”X8”X3, Elastomer, Photopolymer
Artist Statement
I’m interested in producing art that involves using multiple senses, especially the
sense of smell, to create a comprehensive sensory experience. Our hands, eyes, nose,
ears are tools that we can use to experience and interpret art. For the audience to
appreciate and understand my work, it is essential for me to encourage touch.
My attraction to the sense of smell is its ambiguity. It is invisible, and comes to us
like a twisting wind and is gone in a blink of an eye. Sight is the most obvious and
approachable senses to interpret art, but smell is not. We cannot see the particles of
smell, or shapes of fragrances. In my art, I create visible clues that trigger the awakening
to the experience of scent.
To stimulate awareness of the sense of smell, I look for innovative ways of using
materials and colors to enclose scent in three dimensions. For example, my body of
work contains actual scented materials, such as hollow balls that hold chunks of fragrant
candles and powder.
Jewelry requires close contact with humans and their bodies, inducing the
wearer’s interrelationship. By touching, smelling, seeing, hearing and tasting them, the
wearer can interconnect and interpret by building a personal relationship. I want people
to have a fuller, actively experiencing created work and more engaging excitement. The
audience can engage closely with the jewelry and the wearer together become through
the art. It is not just a visual, but also a tactile olfactory adornment, which creates an
aesthetic experience that enters the mind of the wearer and viewer alike.