1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910686767703321

Autore

Gagliardi Susan Elizabeth

Titolo

Seeing the Unseen : : Arts of Power Associations on the Senufo-Mande Cultural "Frontier" / / Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Bloomington, Indiana : , : Indiana University Press, , [2022]

©[2022]

ISBN

0-253-06429-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource: : illustrations (some color), color maps ;

Collana

African expressive cultures

Disciplina

700.103

Soggetti

Symbolism in art

Arts and society

Aesthetics, African

Power associations (Ethnology) - Africa, French-speaking West

Arts and society - Africa, French-speaking West

Electronic books.

French-speaking Western Africa

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Power associations -- Assemblages -- Performers and performances -- Unseeing audiences -- Komo on screen -- Coda: embracing unstable ground.

Sommario/riassunto

"How do arts convey the existence of potent knowledge without revealing details of that knowledge? In Seeing the Unseen, 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. Through attention to many ways of seeing and knowing, Seeing the Unseen opens new possibilities for the study of so-called historical or



classical arts of Africa grounded in the specificity of individual works, their making, and their reception. It also prompts us to reflect on how we know and what it means to know in any context"--