Seeing the Unseen: A Conversation with Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi

In this episode, Chelsy Monie and Dr. Susan Gagliardi (Emory University) discuss, the latter's recent monograph entitled Seeing the Unseen: Arts of Power Association on the Senufo-Mande Cultural "Frontier" (Indiana University Press, 2023) In this book, "art historian Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi examines tensions between the seen and unseen that makers, patrons, and audiences of arts in western West Africa negotiate through objects, assemblages, and performances. Gagliardi examines how ambiguity anchors design of the arts, and she shows that attempts to determine exact meanings miss the point. Specialists across western West Africa construct assemblages, installations, and buildings that hint at the possibility of revelation, but full disclosure remains unattainable. Specific activities and contexts integral to the design and use of the works often leave no visible trace" (IU Press). More about the host of this episode, Chelsy Monie here.