Sep 25, 2007 4:13 PM

An African love affair

UCLA visual culture scholars Allen and Polly Roberts have spent two lifetimes studying and celebrating the profound mysteries, hidden cultures and timeless beauty of one of the most fascinating places on Earth.

Of the many mystifying works of art in the Westwood home of Allen Roberts and Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts, the most intriguing is an image of a slight man in an oversize white robe, his face partially obscured by a shadow. This is a print of the only surviving photograph of Amadou Bamba, a legendary Sufi mystic who resisted the French in the African nation of Senegal and became a symbol of the continent's postcolonial self-reliance.

As scholars of visual culture, Al and Polly specialize in opening doors on hidden worlds.

See UCLA Magazine Online for the complete story.

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