The first live unfinishing took place at the Crossed Wires festival 2026!

The audience had the treat of hearing the fabulous Dr RJ Wade unfurling the mysteries behind an unfished portrait held at the University of Leeds. Wade gave some brilliant insights into the unfinished nature of the portrait - the ways in which its unfinishedness changes how we interact with it, and the clues its incompleteness gives about how it was created.

The portrait, which is of the significant Victorian politician Richard Cobden, was painted by the wonderful artist Emma Aloysia Novello, likely in May 1861. Wade’s research has uncovered that Novello led an extraordinary, rich, intriguing life - travelling across Europe and maintaining her status as an artist despite the barriers presented by the gender norms of the time.

Wade’s research also, however, revealed tragic and unsettling information about the last years of Emma’s life. Two heart-breaking documents - the first admitting her to a ‘lunatic’ asylum, after which all other papers from and about her stop - and the second a record of her death.

Wade tells us about how these last years came about, but argues we should resist the temptation to see Emma’s life as ‘incomplete’. Her work, her travel, her relationships, and above all her ability to maintain her profession as an artist - all speak of a meaningful, varied, and important life.

Links of interest:

View Emma Novello’s portrait of Richard Cobden here - where you can also read about Wade’s fascinating research: The portrait | Special Collections | Library | University of Leeds

More about Wade: RJ Wade | Library | University of Leeds

The book Wade mentions, titled How to do Nothing, is by Jenny Odell. Find out more here: How to do nothing: the new guide to refocusing on the real world | Life and style | The Guardian

unfinishing is the podcast about projects that are incomplete, abandoned, works-in-progress or not public. It’s presented by Emily Anderson and the artwork is by Graham Oakes. If you have an incomplete or private project you’d like to talk about, please contact us via our website: https://unfinishing.co.uk/.

Our guest in this episode is Professor Manuel Barcia. Professor Barcia is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Bath, with responsibility for developing and leading the university’s international engagement. He’s also a world-leading scholar in Atlantic and global history. His work focuses on slavery, resistance, and the legacies of colonialism. Over the years he has been a recipient of multiple research fellowships and awards, including a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2014. His global perspective is deeply informed by both the nature of his scholarship and his extensive experience working with institutions and researchers from all over the world.

Professor Barcia studied History at undergraduate level at the University of Havana in Cuba, then went on to experience life as an international student in the UK when he took a MA in Comparative History (as a Chevening scholar) and a PhD in History at the University of Essex. After concluding his PhD, he taught at the universities of Essex and Nottingham before going to Leeds in 2006.

Manuel is here to tell me about two unfinished books.

One is titled, The Cuban Sugar Kings: The Untold Story of a Minor League Baseball Team and the Cuban Revolution. It tells the story of the Cuban Sugar Kings, better known as the Havana Sugar Kings, a team who made history. Not only did they maintain a historical relationship with the Cincinnati Reds, but also won the most important prize in Minor League baseball, the mini-World Series of 1960, and found themselves immersed in the events that led to and followed the triumph of the 1959 Revolution led by Fidel Castro.

Despite having conducted interviews with members of the team, and having a rich body of research material ready to go, this is a project Manuel has had to abandon and will never be able to finish.

The future of Manuel’s other unfinished book is looking more hopeful. It’s called The First Anglo-Asante War: Colonialism and Abolition in the Gold Coast, 1823-1831. Manuel tells us about this complex (and often gory) period of history, as well as the surprising things he’s found in the archives while researching it.

Links of interest

About Manuel: Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement)

The Havana Sugar Kings: Havana Sugar Kings – Official League

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unfinishing is the podcast about projects that are incomplete, abandoned, works-in-progress or not public. It’s presented by Emily Anderson and the artwork is by Graham Oakes. If you have an incomplete or private project you’d like to talk about, please contact us via our website: https://unfinishing.co.uk/.

Our guest in this episode is Chanel Comis, who possibly has the best job ever. Chanel is the co-founder of Wildlife Sense, a conservation and research organisation that specialises in protecting sea turtles on the beautiful Greek island of Kefalonia.

Chanel talks about how conservation is ongoing, continuous, potentially un-finishable. work. We learn about what Wildlife Sense has achieved so far, what Chanel and her colleagues want for the future, and why sea turtles are always surprising...

You can learn more about Wildlife Sense here: Wildlife Sense - Research & Conservation Organization - Kefalonia

About Chanel: Chanel’s devotion to conservation efforts and scientific research has led her to work with sea turtles since 2010. She's worked with environmental conservation organizations in America and Greece. She earned her B.S. in Biology and minor in Chemistry with honors from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, NY, while interning at the Bronx Zoo, where she became interested in animal behavior. Chanel graduated from Coastal Carolina University, SC, with a master’s degree in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies. She conducted her research thesis on loggerhead sea turtle hatchling orientation in Kyparissia, Greece. Soon after she co-founded Wildlife Sense where she now enjoys spending her days working with others to protect sea turtles in Kefalonia, where her family is from.

If you liked this episode you can:

1. Give it a rating or a review:

On Apple: tap on the podcast thumbnail (the logo), and scroll down to below the episodes until you find the ratings and reviews section.

On Spotify: click on the three dots below the podcast art and title (next to settings), and select ‘Rate show’.

2. Check out the website and sign up to the unfinishing newsletter: https://unfinishing.co.uk/contact This is the best way to stay up to date!

3. Tag us in your social media posts:

Instagram: @unfinishingpod

Bluesky: @unfinishing.bsky.social

Twitter: @TrueBagglerag