Becoming Blind (as a Bat): A Scented Storytelling Journey

For most of her life, writer, performer, and founder of Aromatica Poetica, Dr. M. Leona Godin, told her story as a journey of “going blind.” Now she tells her story as a journey of “becoming blind.” A metamorphosis like any other, transforming from sighted person to blind person entails pain and beauty and excitement. Godin will punctuate her stories with scented, tactile tokens, handmade by her for this Olfactory Art Keller performance. These tokens give audience members something to touch, sniff, and take home with them. Blackout shades will be provided—because you don’t need your eyes for this!

Dr. M. Leona Godin is the author of There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness (Pantheon, 2021), and the founder of Aromatica Poetica, an arts and culture laboratory for the advancement of smell and taste. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, O Magazine, Literary Hub, and others. Her storytelling appearances include: RISK!; Story Collider; The MOTH Mainstage; TALE; and Turn Me Into Gold (Back Pocket Media). Her first storytelling solo show, SIGHTED PEOPLE SUCK!, Debuted at Under St. Marks Theater in November 2023. As a New York Public Library 2023-24 Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellow, she’s working on a series of essays about image description and photography, which she hopes to turn into scented stories one day.

Image Description: In front of a heavily graffitied metal door, Godin's hands, adorned with elbow-length black leather gloves, hold out a handful of cedar-scented red velvet tokens bathed in red neon light. 

Caption: Photo by Alabaster Rhumb