Anais Da Fonseca is an art historian and Lecturer in Education at the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's.

She received her Ph.D. in History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Her research and teaching focus on modern and contemporary art from South Asia, the history of craft, design, and “folk and tribal arts,” and the politics of culture and heritage in South Asia. She is also interested in the phenomenology of contemporary art making, and in the Europe-India-Africa trade and movements of skills since the 19th century.

Before joining King's, Anais was an Associate Lecturer in History of Art at UCL (2022-2024) and a Researcher in Economics at London Business School (2019-2021), a Research Associate at the SOAS South Asia Institute (2018-2019) and an adjunct researcher at Tate Research Centre: Asia (2017-2018).

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

Anais’ current research project examines crafts' ways of forming transregional networks across India, South Asia, Europe and West Africa. At the juncture of art history and visual anthropology, the project is a study of artefacts, their materiality, makers and making, and of craft markets and cultural institutions. It engages with culturally-bound and context-specific notions of authorship, creativity and innovation. It also considers craft as a conceptual framework for process-based contemporary artists in India.

Teaching

Anais teaches Dissertion Research Methods and supports specialised teaching across the department.