This talk shares central concepts of an anthropology of making as they emerged in my long-term apprenticeship-based research as an artist-anthropologist under the tutelage of my mentor, a master coppersmith and village elder, Maestro Jesús Pérez Ornelas (1924-2014) and his sons in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, Mexico. In particular, I introduce “the mastery of un-mastery” to go beyond standard interpretations of skill, embodiment and embodied knowledge.
Initiated in 1997, the project’s performative approach is woven into a micro-historical account spanning five generations of one artisan family led by Maestro Pérez. Analysis draws from extensive participant-observation not only in the family forge, but also within the artisanal home, from the shared ordinary and extraordinary experiences of household tasks, community fiestas, religious rituals, pilgrimages, family life-events and celebrations and other serendipitous conversations and encounters. As a woman I moved between gendered spaces, hammering, cooking, cleaning, shopping and greeting clients.
Artisanal skill and knowledge is not stable, but rather is fleeting, changing, always unfinished. How are these skills unlearned to be relearned differently? And, how can artisans’ social and aesthetic performances transform and alter their social status, ethnic stigmas and prejudices? To answer these questions I propose the concepts of the mastery of un-mastery and a critical aesthetic approach that analyzes the entanglements of artisans social and aesthetic performances.
Pitt Rivers Museum Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, Hilary Term 2026
Fridays, 12pm-1.30pm (Weeks 1-8)
In person at the Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Theatre (entry via Robinson Close).
Convened by Chihab El-Khachab and Paola Esposito.
