“ I curate and develop public programs and exhibitions that explore visual culture, identity, and community through a critical and strategic lens.”

Joanna Prescod is an arts and cultural strategist, fashion and costume scholar, and public thinker based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her practice sits at the intersection of community development, strategic planning, and public engagement with deep expertise in museums, storytelling, and art-based methodologies.

Joanna holds a graduate degree in Humanities and an undergraduate degree in Culture & Expression from York University, with additional certifications in Fashion Arts, Costume Studies, and Cultural Management.

Her interdisciplinary scholarship centers on fashion, Black aesthetics, and cultural memory, examining how garments operate across social, institutional, and digital spaces. Her ongoing research project, Hypervisuality, investigates the politics of dress and embodiment, with particular attention to racialized communities navigating visibility and erasure. This work directly shapes the public programming, exhibitions, and community collaborations she designs, all of which engage questions of belonging, representation, and cultural memory within urban contexts.

A speaker, facilitator, and consultant, Joanna has presented at cultural institutions and conferences across the sector and is regularly invited to guest teach on fashion, culture, and placemaking. She is currently developing a new body of work that positions fashion as memory, method, and material resistance.

Across all of her work, Joanna brings critical rigor, care, and nuance, creating space for people to reflect on their own role in shaping culture and collective memory.