Petrichor
For those with smell
Record a voice note about:
A smell that means something to you.
A smell that evokes a memory for you. Describe the smell and describe the memory.
Anything else you’d like to share.
For those with smell loss or dysfunction
Record a voice note about:
Your relationship to the idea of smell.
A smell that is/was meaningful to you. How do you remember it? What does remembering it look or feel like?
A smell you miss? When do you miss it? What does that feel like?
Something you wish other people understood about your experience?
Anything else you’d like to share.
***Stories will remain anonymous. Optional names and emails will only be used by the artist to contact you to further explore your story.
Press record, speak for up to 30 minutes, then press send.
(or send a voicenote via email to lyra@lyrabd.com)
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Petrichor is a dance theatre piece created by Lyra Butler-Denman in collaboration with Danielle Reed and Monell, the only independent research institute dedicated to the scientific understanding of taste and smell. The piece explores smell and smell-loss as it relates to memory, safety, longing, and delight. It also explores the relationship between smell disorders and memory loss.
Petrichor examines the emotional experience of losing or distorting the sense of smell. Through movement and sound, exploring the discomfort and repulsion associated with parosmia, a condition in which familiar smells become distorted, as well as the grief that can come with losing smell as a meaningful connection to memory, place, food, and loved ones.
By translating these often invisible sensory experiences into physical and auditory expression, the work invites visitors to consider how deeply smell is woven into emotion, identity, and human connection.