Bio

I am a curator, cultural producer, and researcher exploring the relationship between garments, biography, and curatorial practice, and co-founder of the experimental exhibition space, MADSEN SYLVESTER STUDIO in Ramsgate, Kent.

My practice uses exhibition-making and material culture research to examine how lived experience permeates worn clothing, and how the researcher acts as a potential interrupter of this biography.

Originally from the west coast of Canada, I received my BA in 2006 from Toronto Metropolitan University and worked in broadcasting as an archivist and production manager, prior to transitioning to commercial styling and costuming for film and television. After relocating to the UK, I spent three years as an intern in the Fashion and Decorative Arts Collection at London Museum before graduating in 2019 with an MA (distinction) from London College of Fashion’s Fashion Curation and Cultural Programming degree course.

In 2023, I was awarded a doctorate for my AHRC techne-funded research (in collaboration with University of the Arts London and the Museum of London) titled Curatorial Interruption: Critical analysis of sources of decision-making bias in dress/fashion curators and examination of the impact of curatorial bias on wearer/object biography in worn clothing acquired by institutional collections in the United Kingdom.

I lecture internationally (London College of Fashion, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Art, The Courtauld, Royal College of Arts, V&A Dundee, MUDE Design Museum, Lisbon) on the history and future of fashion curation and cultural programming; innovative, speculative, and extrasensory methods of collecting and exhibiting clothing and the experience of the dressed self; and critical curatorial practice.

I have have developed and delivered curriculum for interdisciplinary postgraduate and undergraduate student and have been the Course Leader for MA Fashion Curation and Cultural Programming (London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London) since 2023.

In 2025, I joined the AHRC-funded project A Museum of Uncollected Things (led by Dr Ellen Sampson) as Postdoctoral Research Assistant, and am a Research Fellow at Northumbria University.

I have cared for and curated clothing collections and fashion archives at The Contemporary Wardrobe Collection, Fashion and Textile Museum, London College of Fashion, London Museum, and Savile Row tailoring house Huntsman. Freelance clients include Artquest, curator Charlotte Cotton, editor Penny Martin, SHOWstudio and artist Dr Jane Wildgoose. I have contributed to projects for brands including Miu Miu, Chanel Beauty, Chanel Culture Fund, Nike, and FARFETCH. My work has been exhibited at the Museum of London, London College of Fashion, OXO Bargehouse, The Horse Hospital and MoMA.

My current research focuses on wearer and object biography, the authorship of history through worn clothing, extra-sensory collection and exhibition strategies, ethical material and immaterial (including the use of AI) practice, curatorial bias, and what I have termed “curatorial interruption”.