Photograph Conservation Staff

Kennedy joined The Met in 1990 as the first Photograph Conservator. In 2015, the Department of Photograph Conservation was established under Kennedy's leadership as the Sherman Fairchild Conservator of Photographs. In 2025, the Department takes on new life as the Department of Photograph and Time-Based Media Conservation. In addition to exhibition, loan, and acquisition responsibilities, Kennedy continues to advocate for education, scholarship, preventive conservation, and outreach. Kennedy teaches at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center and lectures and conducts workshops internationally. Kennedy received her BFA from York University, her MS degree in conservation from the University of Delaware, and an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Fine Art and Design, Slovakia.

Katie Sanderson joined the lab in 2010 as the Research Scholar in Photograph Conservation and joined the permanent staff two years later. She earned her Master's degree at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where she is currently a member of the adjunct faculty. Her work at The Met includes exhibitions, loans, climate monitoring, and research measuring color change in photographs over time using a spectrophotometer and microfading tester. The main goal of this work is to develop a better understanding of the effects of exhibition and storage conditions on our collections.

Jonathan Farbowitz joined The Met in 2019. As a Conservator in the Department of Photograph and Time-Based Media Conservation, he cares for the film, video, audio, 35mm slide, and software-based artworks in the collection. Jonathan has established a time-based media conservation lab at The Met and helped improve acquisition, documentation, and storage practices for media artworks. From 2016–2019 he was a Fellow in the Conservation of Computer-Based Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where he was part of the restoration process for the museum's three web artworks. Jonathan has led courses and lectured internationally on conservation and digital preservation topics. He holds an MA in Moving Archiving and Preservation from New York University and a BA in Film from Vassar College.

Natasha Kung joined The Met in 2023 as Assistant Conservator. She initially was part of the Department as a pre-program intern in 2016 and was later hired as a Research Assistant in 2017 to work on the exhibition, Monumental Journey: The Daguerreotypes of Girault De Prangey. Her work at The Met includes exhibitions, acquisitions, research, and climate monitoring, with a focus on the conservation of the James Van Der Zee Archive. Natasha holds an MS in the Conservation of Art and Historic Artifacts and an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She received BAs in Art History and Chemistry from New York University.

Tess Hamilton joined the Met in 2024 as an Assistant Conservator. She is focused on the preservation of contemporary art encompassing both photographs and time-based media. From 2022–2024 she was the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Fellow of Photograph Conservation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum where she conducted research and characterization of nearly 200 Robert Mapplethorpe prints. She received an MS in the Conservation of Art and Historic Artifacts and an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts in 2022. She received a BA in Art and in English from Yale University in 2017.

sasha arden joined The Met in 2025 as Associate Conservator of Time-Based Media. After working with several arts institutions in audiovisual roles, they earned an MS in the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works specializing in Time-based Media, and an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Sasha completed internships with the Museum of Modern Art and Tate, and a fellowship at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The are the Managing Editor of the Electronic Media Review for the American Institute of Conservation. Their own research includes light-based art and immersive media such as VR and AR. Sasha will be working over the course of the year on the Tang Wing project, and Museum-wide ongoing time-based media conservation. 

Jenny Hsu joined the Department in 2024 as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Time-Based Media. Jenny is a recent graduate of New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) program, where she developed her passion for time-based media conservation. While there, she completed internships at La MaMa E.T.C., Video Data Bank, and NYU Libraries Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department. She was also a Graduate Archival Assistant in NYU’s Cinema Studies Department. Jenny’s master’s thesis, entitled Beyond Bytes and Beats: The Preservation of Digital Live Performance Art, explores the challenges of preserving audiovisual live performances that feature live-coding and analog or digital technology to generate and modify both music and visuals in real-time.