Dr. Leslie Wooden is an art historian, independent curator, and advisor specializing in modern and contemporary art of Africa and the Diaspora from the mid-twentieth century to the present. She is currently the Director of Curatorial Initiatives and Institutional Relations at Talley Dunn Gallery, where she advises on institutional engagement through acquisition and exhibition strategies and connects artists with collectors, museums, galleries, and cultural organizations. Her advisory work also includes public art commissions, artist funding, residency opportunities, and scholarly collaborations.

She received her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Illinois Chicago, with a concentration in Museum and Exhibition Studies. She also holds two master’s degrees from New York University, including an M.A. in Arts Politics and an M.A. in Humanities and Social Thought. Over the past decade, her research and curatorial practice have been shaped by international study, fieldwork, and collaborations across the Americas, Europe, and West Africa. She has also conducted independent research in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. These experiences inform her comparative approach to global modern and contemporary art.

Her research explores photography, archives, fashion, the aesthetics of dress, and postcolonial, feminist, and queer theory. She has presented her work through museum lectures, artist conversations, and public programs, including at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and at Gallery Soview in Accra, Ghana. Her writing has also appeared in the peer-reviewed journal SQS: The Journal of Queer Studies in Finland.

Alongside her scholarship, she has held archival and curatorial internships and fellowships at the National Gallery of Art, the Newberry Library, the McNay Art Museum, and the Nasher Sculpture Center. She has also served as an independent curator at the African American Museum Dallas and the San Antonio Museum of Art. Across these institutions, she has contributed to exhibitions, collection-based initiatives, interpretive projects, acquisitions research, and public programming.

She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the David L. Boren Fellowship from the Institute of International Education (IIE); the Dean’s Scholar Fellowship and the Provost’s Graduate Research Award from the University of Illinois Chicago; the Provost’s Global Research Initiatives Fellowship from New York University; and recognition as a semifinalist in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Wooden is currently a 2026–2028 C-MAP Africa Fellow in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, focusing on modern and contemporary art from Central Africa.