In 1986, conceptual artist Sophie Calle asked twenty-three people, all of whom had been born without sight, to describe 'their...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• In 1986,
• conceptual artist Sophie Calle
  • asked twenty-three people,
    • all of whom had been born without sight,
  • to describe 'their image of beauty'
    • in rich detail.

• Calle
  • paired excerpts of these conversations
    • with photographs—
      • both of interviewees
      • and the items
        • they described[?]from hair to grass to sculptures[?]
  • to powerful effect
    • in her exhibition The Blind.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us the background:

• In 1986, artist Sophie Calle asked 23 people who had been blind from birth
  • to describe what beauty meant to them
  • in rich detail

The second sentence tells us what she did with these conversations:

• "Calle paired excerpts of these conversations with photographs—"
  • She took parts of what people said
  • and matched them with photographs

This is where we have the blank. The sentence continues with:

• "—both of interviewees and the items they described[?]from hair to grass to sculptures[?] to powerful effect in her exhibition The Blind."

Let's look at our choices - they differ in what punctuation comes right after "described" and what punctuation comes after "sculptures."

To see what works here, let's read and understand the complete structure!

What are the photographs of?

• "both of interviewees" - photos of the people she interviewed
• "and the items they described" - photos of the things they talked about

Then we get examples: "from hair to grass to sculptures"

• These are specific examples of the items blind people described
• Hair, grass, sculptures - diverse things they considered beautiful

After this, the sentence continues: "to powerful effect in her exhibition The Blind"

• This tells us the result - it worked powerfully in her exhibition

Now, what do we notice about the structure here?

The main flow of the sentence is:

• "Calle paired excerpts with photographs...to powerful effect in her exhibition"

After "photographs," there's a dash that opens:

• This dash begins an interruption - extra detail about what the photographs showed
• The interruption is: "both of interviewees and the items they described, from hair to grass to sculptures"

For this to work grammatically:

• We need a closing dash after "sculptures" to return to the main flow ("to powerful effect")
• Dashes work in pairs - one opens the interruption, one closes it
• Without a closing dash, we'd leave the sentence hanging

Within that dashed section:

• "from hair to grass to sculptures" gives examples of "the items"
• This needs a comma before it - the comma signals "here are examples of what I just mentioned"

So we need: described, from hair to grass to sculptures—

• Comma after "described" introduces the examples
• Dash after "sculptures" closes the interruption and returns us to "to powerful effect"

The correct answer is Choice B.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Pairs of Dashes to Set Off Interrupting Information

Dashes work in pairs to set off interrupting information from the main flow of a sentence (similar to how parentheses work, but with more emphasis). The key is that what's between the dashes can be removed, and the sentence still flows naturally:

Pattern:

• Main sentence flow: The company announced the results to great fanfare
• With dashed interruption: The company announced the results—which exceeded all expectations—to great fanfare
• Opening dash starts the interruption
• Closing dash ends it and returns to main flow
• Remove what's between dashes: "The company announced the results to great fanfare" ✓ Still works!

Important: Within a dashed section, you can still use commas for their normal purposes

Example:

• The results—both the quarterly figures and the projections, especially for international markets—exceeded expectations
• Dashes set off the whole interruption
• Comma within that section ("projections, especially for...") adds further clarification
• Two different punctuation marks serving two different purposes

In our question:

• Main flow: Calle paired excerpts with photographs...to powerful effect
• Dashed interruption: —both of interviewees and the items they described, from hair to grass to sculptures—
• First dash opens the interruption
• Comma within introduces examples ("described, from hair...")
• Second dash closes the interruption and returns to "to powerful effect"

The structure is: photographs—[description with examples]—to powerful effect