Staff profile

Project, Interests and Biography

Why is it that different ages and different peoples have represented the world in pictures in such different ways? The “riddle of style” is a longstanding question in art history and anthropology. My PhD project aims to investigate whether and how factors such as demography, intercultural exchanges and social structure shape styles of representation in the arts. To this end, I draw on cutting-edge methods of cultural evolution, including lab experiments and quantitative analyses of art-historical and ethnographic datasets.

Based on the idea that “Painting is to those who cannot read what letters are to those who can” (Gregory the Great), I am also interested in the dynamics of evolutionary change in verbal languages, writing and graphic systems in general.

I have a multi-disciplinary background in Philosophy (BA hons., Napoli), Semiotics (MA dist., Bologna), Heritage Management (MA dist., Kent/Athens), Social Research Methods (PG Cert., Durham). In my parallel life, I am a cultural heritage blogger (www.heritales.it).

• Evolutionary Anthropology