Anissa Pjetri is a scholar specializing in art history and visual culture, with a focus on the visual productions of nationalist propaganda, modern border formation, national memory construction and Orientalism in the post-Ottoman Balkans. She holds a research MA in Global Arts & Cultures from Rhode Island School of Design (2024), where her work examines the erasures of nation-mandated photography and its role in nation-building through the lens of the intimate memory of the erased. Her master’s thesis, Frames of Power, Drawers of Memory: The Bordering Photographic Apparatus in the Post-Ottoman Balkans, investigates the role of national photography in border construction and belonging, exploring the tensions between state-produced visuals and the formation of independent, intimate spaces of recollection.
Prior to RISD, Anissa worked as a museum professional and cultural mediator for the Amir project at Spazio Utopia in Florence. There, she facilitated engagement with histories of migration, displacement and contested heritage in the city. She contributed to educational programs that highlighted Florence’s cultural heritage, fostering critical discussions on identity, memory and historical erasure. Her work specifically addressed erased histories, such as that of slavery in Renaissance Florence and the enduring impacts of Italy’s colonial past.
Additionally, Anissa has worked as a community facilitator in various Florentine cooperatives, including Coop ARCI, Coop Girasole and Coop CAT, providing support for unaccompanied teenage refugees and migrants.
Courses
Spring 2025 Courses
THAD H102-21 - CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
LevelUndergraduate
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
FormatLecture
Start date
End date
THAD H102-21
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
LevelUndergraduate
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
PeriodSpring 2025
Credits3
FormatLecture
Start and End2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: TTH | 11:20 AM - 12:20 PM; T | 9:40 AM - 11:10 AMInstructor(s): Anissa PjetriLocation(s): Auditorium, Room 132; Design Center, Room 210Enrolled / Capacity: 20Status: Closed
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Continuing from critical frameworks established in H101: Global Modernisms, the second semester of the introduction to art history turns to designed, built, and crafted objects and environments. The course does not present a conventional history of the modern movement, but rather engages with a broad range of materials, makers, traditions, sites, and periods in the history of architecture and design. Global in scope, spanning from the ancient world to the present, and organized thematically, the lectures explicitly challenge Western-modernist hierarchies and question myths of race, gender, labor, technology, capitalism, and colonialism. The course is intended to provide students with critical tools for interrogating the past as well as imagining possible futures for architecture and design. Required for graduation for all undergraduates.
First year students are registered into sections by the Liberal Arts Division.
Transfer students should register into the evening section offered in the Spring semester. Pre-registration into this section is managed by Liberal Arts Division.
Major Requirement | BFA
THAD H102-26 - CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
LevelUndergraduate
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2025
Credits 3
FormatLecture
Start date
End date
THAD H102-26
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
LevelUndergraduate
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
PeriodSpring 2025
Credits3
FormatLecture
Start and End2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: TTH | 11:20 AM - 12:20 PM; M | 11:20 AM - 12:50 PMInstructor(s): Anissa PjetriLocation(s): Auditorium, Room 132; College Building, Room 434Enrolled / Capacity: 20Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Continuing from critical frameworks established in H101: Global Modernisms, the second semester of the introduction to art history turns to designed, built, and crafted objects and environments. The course does not present a conventional history of the modern movement, but rather engages with a broad range of materials, makers, traditions, sites, and periods in the history of architecture and design. Global in scope, spanning from the ancient world to the present, and organized thematically, the lectures explicitly challenge Western-modernist hierarchies and question myths of race, gender, labor, technology, capitalism, and colonialism. The course is intended to provide students with critical tools for interrogating the past as well as imagining possible futures for architecture and design. Required for graduation for all undergraduates.
First year students are registered into sections by the Liberal Arts Division.
Transfer students should register into the evening section offered in the Spring semester. Pre-registration into this section is managed by Liberal Arts Division.
