Changhao Li/李昌昊

Thesis title: The Conceptual-Material Architecture of Xiang 香 in Song Literati Culture

Biography

Background

I hold an Honours BA with Distinction in Philosophy and Art History from the University of Toronto, and an MA with Distinction in Interdisciplinary Art, Media & Design from OCAD University. I am currently a PhD candidate in East Asian Studies at the University of Edinburgh, researching the cultural and sensory history of incense in premodern China. Before commencing doctoral studies, I worked as a teaching assistant at OCAD University, interned at Waddington's Auctioneers & Appraisers in Toronto, and contributed to the CanadARThistories open educational resources project. 

CV

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Qualifications

Honours Bachelor of Arts, Art History & Philosophy, University of Toronto, Canada

Master of Arts, Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, OCAD University, Canada

Research summary

My research interests centre on the sensory and intellectual history of premodern China, with a particular focus on the multivalent concept of xiang 香 (fragrance/incense) in Song dynasty literati culture. My doctoral project examines xiang as a unified conceptual-material category that operated simultaneously across registers. My broader research interests include East Asian material culture, the intersection of sensory experience and intellectual history, contemporary olfactory and transmedia art, and the cross-cultural history of botanical and aromatic knowledge.

I have published art criticism and exhibition reviews in journals, and my earlier research spanned Surrealist aesthetics, transcultural botanical art, and the pedagogical reframing of Canadian art history.

Current research interests

Song Dynasty Olfactory Culture; Contemporary Olfactory Art

Past research interests

Contemporary art criticism and modern art history, with a particular attention to sensory and olfactory dimensions of visual culture.

"Song Yuan 颂元: Sniffing as the Path: Olfactory and Transmedia Art." The Senses and Society, May 2025. [Exhibition Review] https://doi.org/10.1080/17458927.2025.2550039

"Hiroshi Sugimoto: The Descent of the Kasuga Spirit." The Senses and Society, September 2023. [Exhibition Review] https://doi.org/10.1080/17458927.2023.2257910

"A Sudden Gust of Wind (1993)." In CanadARThistories: Reimagining the Canadian Art History Survey, July 2022.

"Artistic Cultivation of Mums." Future of History, University of Toronto History Students' Association, April 2022.

"Mask, Mantis, Hybridity and Temporality: The Metamorphosis of Surrealism." Lost in Reverie, University of Toronto History of Art Students' Association (HASA), February 2022.  

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