São Paulo – The installation Sfumato by Brazilian artist Karola Braga is one of the finalists for the 11th Art and Olfaction Awards 2025, the leading international award dedicated to olfactory creation as an art form. Braga’s artwork was on display between February and March last year in the desert of AlUla, a city in northern Saudi Arabia.
In her creation for Sfumato, Braga explored the natural essence of the AlUla region, known as the Incense Route due to its role as a trade path for spices between the 7th and 12th centuries. To achieve this, she used the desert itself as the protagonist of her artistic creation.
While speaking with ANBA during Sfumato‘s exhibition, the artist said: “In my works, scent takes center stage. So, in deg the visual and structural aspects of the project—the giant censer—I aimed for full integration with the landscape, ensuring that the aroma remained the focal point of the piece.” Myrrh and frankincense were the two fragrances dispersed into the air by the Brazilian artist’s installation.
The Desert X exhibition, which featured Karola Braga’s Sfumato, was created in California in 2017 and has editions in Coachella Valley, in the United States, as well as in AlUla. The 2024 edition was curated by Brazilian Marcello Dantas, who invited Braga to exhibit, and Lebanese Maya El Khalil.
The award, granted by the Institute for Art and Olfaction, based in Los Angeles, California, has three categories: Artisan, Independent, and Experimental. Braga is competing in the Experimental category. She is up against contenders from the U.S., Australia, Argentina, and Switzerland, all with olfactory art creations. The Artisan and Independent categories are contested by perfumers and their creations.
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Artwork by Brazilian explores fragrances of desert
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
