Dr Joanna Wolfarth is an art historian specialising in the visual and material cultures of Southeast Asia, with particular expertise in Buddhist art and the cultural history of Cambodia. She holds a PhD in the History of Art from the University of Leeds and has taught widely across undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the UK and internationally, including at SOAS University of London, the Open University, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and Fulbright University Vietnam.
Her research explores Buddhist image-making, heritage, and the intersections of art history with philosophy. She has also published on the politics and poetics of motherhood and feeding, demonstrating an interdisciplinary commitment to cultural histories of the body.
Joanna’s publications include:
- MILK: An Intimate History of Breastfeeding (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2023) and MILK: An Intimate History of Humanity’s First Food (W&N, 2024);
- ASIA-ART-ACTIVISM: Experiments in Care and Collective Disobedience (co-ed., AAA Press, 2022);
- forthcoming book project, Aftermath: Re-Presenting Emptiness;
- peer-reviewed articles in Udaya: Journal of Khmer Studies, Trans Asia Photography Review, and Southeast of Now;
- co-editorship of the themed issue Archive in Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia (2019).
Alongside her academic research, Joanna has worked on cultural and heritage projects in Cambodia with organisations such as Phare Ponleu Selpak and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. She also brings experience from the NGO and cultural sectors as a research manager and ethics advisor, where she has developed training and policy guidance in research ethics and professional practice.
Her teaching and supervision are underpinned by a commitment to inclusive, student-centred pedagogy and to developing critical, global approaches to art history. Research interests include:
- Buddhist visual culture and image-making
- Ancient and contemporary Southeast Asian art
- Photography and the archive
- Materiality, heritage, and memory
- Cultural histories of the body, feeding, and care
- Global and decolonial approaches to art history
