Tag: photography

Blindness as Creative Force – Fall 2026 News & Events

Dear readers, After relying on a barely accessible newsletter platform for almost a decade, I’ve decided to turn my jam-packed newsletters with carefully curated image descriptions into seasonal round-up posts at DrMLGodin.com and AromaticaPoetica.com, and just send out a simple, text-based email blast to alert readers. So here’s the Fall 2026 Blindness as Creative Force Newsletter! Please reach out and… Read more

Arrivederci, Ernesto: A Remembrance of Professor Ernest B. Gilman (1946-2026)

Professor Ernest Gilman, my friend and mentor, died last week. Many called him Ernie, but I always called him Ernesto. He seemed to enjoy it. It was a holdover from his days teaching at NYU Florence, where, I learned at his funeral service, his full title was Ernesto il Magnifico! I never called him that. Ernesto was one of the… Read more

First Month as an NYPL Cullman Fellow * Photo/Description Journal

From my first mornings entering the New York Public Library as the 2025-26 Jean Strouse Fellow in the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, I knew it would be a very happy year! Perhaps it was the five months away in so many new situations—MacDowell, Yaddo, San Francisco—learning to bumble about with Moses, that made it possible for me to… Read more

“100 Years of Blindness: A Scented Performance-Lecture on Photography” – April 15!

After a sold-out performance on March 1, I’m delighted to announce a second chance to experience “100 years of Blindness: A Scented Performance Lecture on Photography” on April 15, 7pm, at Olfactory Art Keller, NYC! Buy tickets! What happens when we explore photography without sight? In this experimental performance lecture, blind author and artist Dr. M. Leona Godin conjures five… Read more

Image Description and the Critical Blind Gaze * NYPL Public Lecture

*As a 2023-24 Diamonstein-Spielvogal Fellow at the New York Public Library, I was asked to give a public lecture in the Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities on March 8, 2024 called: “Image Description and the Critical Blind Gaze.” Below is the recording of the lecture—including questions from the star-studded audience!—followed by a cleaned-up transcript of my lecture… Read more

New York Public Library Talk: “Image Description and the Critical Blind Gaze” – In-Person on March 8

I’m thrilled to present “Image Description and the Critical Blind Gaze” at The New York Public Library (NYPL) in-person on March 8, 2pm! Free, but please register. About the Talk Author and scholar M. Leona Godin uses photographs in the Library’s collections to explore the strange relationship between sighted photographers and blind subjects. The photography division of The Miriam and… Read more