What does death smell like? This LA perfume exhibition takes your nose into unusual territories

Have you ever wanted to relive a significant memory from your childhood? Or wondered what it would be like to smell a mythological being — like the African goddess of the ocean, Yemayá?

In the new exhibition Storycraft: Twelve Olfactory Narratives, at the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Chinatown, 12 local perfumers were prompted to create scents linked to a specific cultural memory or myth.

I sat down with two of the perfumers to explore how and why they created a death-themed scent for the exhibition.

Earth, rain and fruit: Evoking the smell of her great-grandmother’s funeral in Jamaica

NaMoya Lawrence and Debbie Lin — known collectively as SAMAR — are an independent perfume duo that’s among the 12 perfumers featured at the Storycraft exhibition.

Lawrence wanted to evoke a