Smells and Bells

When I walked into class and saw the three guest speakers, I knew I made the right decision to get to class that day. The House of Larva is a drag show that is intended to engage all of the senses. In class we did a few things that were much more about touch and smell. However, my favorite part was the real show that evening. The dramatic costumes and images and lighting are what made the entire experience so memorable. The costume I remember the most was that of Anfanga Sphinx (my apologies if that is spelled wrong). The costume had no real organization to it but it immediately drew your attention. There was torn cloth, glitter, something that resembled flour, a marker, and cloth strategically stuck to cover the nipples. The look made a bold statement, which I am sure was the intention. A statement I'm sure it wasn't planning to make but did an excellent job of doing so was to the young men who were clearly out of their element at this show. They had a bit of trouble figur...

In the introduction to The Aroma of Righteousness Deborah Green writes about how the sense of smell is left out in all sorts of ways, in all different kinds of studies, because it is one of the “lower sense.” I was particularly interested in how this related to the study of aesthetics. I am in an aesthetics course this semester and I had not thought of smell even once before reading this chapter. Green references someone who completely rules out smell as aspect of aesthetics. People written their pens dry about the aesthetics of visual and auditory sensations but completely ignore smell. I think smell (and touch, but maybe not so much taste) could be a great thing to study aesthetically. We do basically the same things with smell as we do with sight and hearing. Way may not make “art” or museums or theaters for olfactory sensations, but we do have a huge perfume industry and we’re constantly trying to make the space around us smell good just like we try to make the space around us l...