Veiling obscures, but also reveals. It holds symbolic and aesthetic power that spans centuries, from the medieval and Victorian periods to contemporary expressions in visual, fashion, and social media culture. Further, it frames visibility itself and shapes how identity is hidden, controlled, surveilled, or disclosed. To veil is not only to conceal, but to shape what others are allowed to see and what they are left to imagine. Veiling shrouds, but also frames; withholds, but also invites interpretation. These tensions give veiling its interpretive depth, sustaining its power to provoke, unsettle, and reframe. 

E.K. Sedgwick describes the veil as a surface image that blurs boundaries between interior and exterior, often tied to gender, concealment, and social control. Similarly, Broadwell notes that in Radcliffe’s Gothic novels, a “veil” of sensibility distorts perception, obscuring a clear view of reality.

This panel explores how veiling—literal, metaphorical, or strategic—acts as a catalyst for (re)generation across different modes of identity, image-making, and cultural expression. How do veils operate as sites of becoming where identities are reshaped and meanings reimagined? How does veiling give rise to new forms of identity, agency, and meaning as it intersects with concealment, ritual, visual culture, performance, and literary representation? And what happens when unveiling occurs, when the illusion breaks or is replaced by another?

We welcome papers that examine the generative work of veils across temporal, cultural, and symbolic dimensions, especially those that address:

• Veils as liminal media: thresholds of identity, image, or transformation

• The sustaining or reworking of myths, ideologies, and aesthetic legacies through veiling

• Unveiling as rupture or revelation—renewal through exposure or erasure

• Strategic veiling in literature, performance, art, or political resistance

• The ethics and politics of visibility, invisibility, and selective concealment

• Shifting representations and symbolic uses of veils across literary periods and movements

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract to https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21777 by October 15th, 2025 to be considered for this panel.