AUB hosts 'The Middle East Photograph Preservation Institute'

Organized by the Arab Image Foundation in collaboration with the University of Delaware and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and funded by the Getty Foundation with additional funding by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the course was designed and taught by international experts in the preservation of photographs with considerable input and support from the local organizers.

The Arab Image Foundation is a non-profit foundation that was established in Lebanon in 1996. The Foundation aims to promote photography in the Middle East and North Africa by locating, collecting, and preserving the region's photographic heritage.

Fifteen participants from major private and public collections in Lebanon, Egypt, Iran and Jordan are engaged in the first-ever program, which is funded by a $115,000 grant from the Getty Foundation.

The program provided participants with a basic understanding of preventative care issues, the importance of risk assessment, best practices in photograph preservation, and the technological developments of photography. Just as important, the institute allowed the stewards of collections in the region to establish international professional relationships, which may foster future collaboration and support.

The two-week course offered lectures, demonstrations, hands-on projects, collection visits, and case studies.

The Middle East Photograph Preservation Institute (MEPPI) was co-directed by Debra Hess Norris, Art Conservation Department Chair and Professor of Photographs at the University of Delaware, and Nora Kennedy, Sherman Fairchild Conservator of Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and adjunct professor in the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Norris and Kennedy have a combined 45 years of experience in photograph conservation education and training. They have designed and taught workshops around the world and are the directors of the Collaborative Workshops in Photograph Conservation, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since 1997.

"Despite a wealth of photographic heritage dating from the early 19th century to the present, there are no formally trained photograph conservators in the Middle East," Norris said.

"Our hope is that this program will advance the practice of photograph preservation throughout the region, as well as foster the exchange of preservation ideas, philosophies and techniques that will strengthen ties among us as conservators," Norris noted.