Bean Gilsdorf is an interdisciplinary artist, critic, and editor based in Portland, Oregon. In late July 2018, her solo exhibition State Dinner opened at Cincinnati, Ohio's Anytime Department. The installation reveals a three-year examination of female political figures - First Ladies who served in the last thirty years more precisely - and how “soft power” is both produced and mediated by mass media imagery.

HAF Senior Editor Roula Seikaly spoke with Gilsdorf about image sourcing from history books, covert political power and how it is exerted, and crafting three-dimensional objects that convey the public personas of women we think we know but do not.  

Roula Seikaly in conversation with Bean Gilsdorf