PART 2
Yasmine Ganley — ANYONEGIRL
In celebration of Mother's Day, we're publishing love letters to Mothers, through the language of scent.
Here, Yasmine, creative and editor of the recent publication, ALTARS, shares her love letter to motherhood — exploring how non-traditional "motherly" scent notes capture the dualities within us, and how many of her fondest memories are tied in the scent of the sea.
Photograph: Samantha Totty
A setting tied to a scent memory of your mother —
"Maybe the scent of long dry grass in France, or thermals in the snow. Or the smell of freshly cut lawn, when my dad would mow and mum would be inside reading at the table. Or smelling rockmelons in the supermarket to see if they were ripe and good yet."
Photograph: Samantha Totty
Scent notes that make you feel empowered as a mother —
"My first thought is maybe something dark and mysterious and a little sexy. Like Amber. Scents that are not classically 'motherly', but that speak to the dualities within us as women and mothers and friends. As we have mothering, with all of its toast, and soft headed hair, and laundry, and filling the car with petrol, but there is also space for what we want and desire, because becoming a mother enlarged these things for me, and I get pleasure in showing my children that doing things that I love, like swimming and growing flowers and travelling all matter too, and widens my capacity for both parts.
I've been leaning into the idea that being a parent is to teach your child how to best be part of the world, and demonstrating how you do that yourself is your strongest tool."
Photograph: Samantha Totty
A scent you hope your children will remember you by —
"Perhaps saltwater, that pungent seaweed smell, some neoprene and sun cream mixed in. Lots of our best memories are stored in the scent of the sea."
