ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the genealogy of the parlor aesthetics and sensations, and how portrait studio layouts have reflected changes in the types of environment that lend themselves to the bearing of elegant appearance in The Gambia. During the portrait work of the National Census, the concept of citizenship - the relationship between individuals and the nation-state - materialized according to an ethos of elegance which allowed people to feel cherished and wanted, and secure within their encompassing environments. The most significant effect of the National Census on photography in The Gambia was that the burden of portraiture, like the concept of citizenship, was to make people feel cherished. Even during this period of state-oriented regulation, photography was not simply a matter of disciplinary surface description. Senegalese photographers had been traveling into The Gambia since 1986 to get people interested in color photography.
