Anissa Malady is a collage artist, book destroyer, and librarian whose work challenges notions of power, memory, and human expression. Through a queer and politically charged lens, she explores sexuality, identity, and the transient nature of print culture. Her art is both a critique and a celebration—questioning the politics of preservation while honoring the defiant beauty of what is often discarded.
Her practice of collage and book destruction emerges as a direct response to archival traditions, sparking conversations about what survives, what is erased, and who decides. Using found imagery and fragmented text, she creates pieces that explore themes of power, memory, and desire—balancing critique with moments of joy and resistance.
Originally from Denver, Malady studied at the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. After more than 20 years in San Francisco, she draws inspiration from the city’s, history, street art/graffiti and creative spaces and beautiful weirdness the The City by the Bay. Her work has been shown at the Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco Public Library, Sour Cherry, Gallery-o-Raman, and in the best art gallery in town, the streets. She recently contributed to Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s Classic Novel Reimagined, published by Kolaj Institute, and is currently curating an exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library, inspired by the publication, opening April 1, 2025.
Anissa Malady 