Publications
You can read many of my essays over on my Substack.
Imprints
Winner of the Wild Muse Nature Writing Prize | December 2024
It is midnight. I’m at home, my forehead pressed deep into the rough nap of the sofa as another contraction swells up from my womb. My baby is coming.
It is also a late summer afternoon and I am climbing to the ruined fort. Ahead of me, over the cliff edge, I hear the roar of the open ocean. My baby is coming.
"Imprints" is available to read here
A Universe in My Hands
Unbroken | Winter 2024
As I usher him from the kitchen, I see a near-empty compost bag rise triumphantly from the lawn, where it languished for two weeks. Fingers pull at my belt loop and the staircase is covered in flakes of dried mud. When did I last clean the sink?
"A Universe in My Hands" is available to read here
When I struggled with breastfeeding, ancient images of motherhood helped me feel less isolated
The Observer | 22 January 2023
Focusing on the most vital task of my life made me feel small and inconsequential in the world. It was visual art that offered me solace in that tumultuous first year of new motherhood.
Womb milk and the puzzle of the placenta
Wellcome Stories | 18 October 2023
Breast or formula milk is essential to the existence of a newborn baby – but it’s less well known that even as an embryo they’re dependent on a type of milk. Historian Joanna Wolfarth explores ancient beliefs about the role of the placenta, as well as recent research on uterine nourishment.
The History of Breast Milk in Art
Hyperallergic | 10 August 2023
Milk is not only humanity’s food but also a liquid dripping with symbolism, from spiritual salvation to maternal devotion.
Feeding Futures
Corridor8 | 24 October 2022
These fraught practical negotiations of space, public perception and a hungry baby happened in parallel with coming to terms with an ever-changing postpartum body, my new identity within the world, and a host of unexpected emotions.
In the Shadow of Angkor
History Today | 2 February 2022
The ruined temples of Cambodia’s medieval empire became symbols of a people who had forgotten their history. In reality, they demonstrate an inherent continuity.
Confusion, guilt, and the battle to breastfeed
Wellcome Stories | 19 February 2020
Weeks of worry, pain and confusing input from an array of health professionals accompanied Joanna Wolfarth’s struggle to breastfeed her baby. She gradually discovered evidence going back millennia that indicated her problems were not new ones.
The Angkor Empire’s National Health Service
History Today | 14 May 2020
After decades of turmoil, in 1181 Jayavarman VII restored order to the Angkor Empire by embracing Buddhism and introducing an unprecedented public healthcare programme.
Uncanny Encounters at Angkor
Alpine Fellowship – Academic Writing Prize Runner-Up | 2021
I cannot pretend to be immune to the romantic allure of the ruin. My decision to pursue research on Angkor was sparked by a moment of uncanny fascination, where any sense of academic objectivity was overcome by an embodied response to what lay before me. I remember it with distinct clarity.