Selenophilia by Sandy Jiao
Sandy Jiao's project is an olfactory installation that asks, what does the moon smell like?
Selenophilia (meaning a love of the moon) was inspired by the myth of Chang'e - the immortal moon goddess in Chinese mythology - and the place of the moon in cultural imagination. Selenophilia considers smell not simply as atmosphere, but as a form of knowledge that goes beyond texts and images. The project brings together Chinese mythology, gendered storytelling, lunar science, speculative design, and professional perfumery within one participatory installation.
"Rather than claiming to reproduce the moon鈥檚 real scent, the work opens the possibility that an unreachable place might be approached through minerals, perfume, ritual, and imagination," Sandy explains.
The installation can be read as a laboratory, a perfume counter, a sensory archive, or a fictional research station. And vitally, it is interactive, with visitors invited to smell rocks, tinctures and macerations, compare materials, follow extraction instructions, and they are invited to form their own interpretations. In this way, the installation is designed to reward closeness, slowness, and curiosity.
The project began with my interest in sensory heritage and the absence of smell from museums and archives. Although scent can strongly trigger memory and emotion, history is usually communicated through images, texts, and objects.
BA Design student Sandy initially considered recreating historical smells, but initial testing revealed the limitations. It led her to question how smell could be used to approach something absent or unreachable, and to the topic of myth, Chang'e and the moon. "The project gradually evolved from historical reconstruction into a speculative olfactory world combining mythology, geology, ritual, and perfumery," she explained.
The research process behind the project was extensive. As well as historical and material research, Sandy asked members of the public to respond to the question "What does the moon smell like to you?" Sandy collaborated with independent perfumer Debra Gerson to create the central fragrance for the project, Lunar Dust.
I hope the audience leaves with a different understanding of smell: smell as a medium capable of carrying history, cultural memory, emotion, and speculation.