Ibrahim Mohamed Ali joined the Metropolitan Museum's paid summer intern program from his position as a conservator at the Grand Egyptian Museum via the George Washington University Museum Studies Program, where he is working toward his master's degree. With a background in the conservation and preservation of metal archaeological artifacts but with an immense passion for everything photographic, Ibrahim delved into all aspects of photograph conservation during his nine weeks at the Met this past summer.
A conservator can treat photographs that have been physically damaged, but keeping photographs cool, dry, well housed, and properly handled will yield a greater benefit for an entire collection over the long term, saving priceless images for generations to come. Egypt has many rich collections of photographs, and Ibrahim hopes to be one of those who care for these collections upon returning to his native Cairo. With this goal in mind, he took part in many activities with conservators, conservation scientists, technicians, collections managers, and curators over the course of his internship, receiving exposure to all aspects of behind-the-scenes museum work.
Ibrahim's projects focused on different aspects of photograph preservation such as recording climate conditions (temperature and relative humidity) and reading about how adverse conditions affect photographs. He accompanied staff conservators and fellow interns taking light-level readings in galleries. Studying these conditions over time is an important aspect of ensuring that photographs and digital prints will not change. In the North American climate, for example, it is important to moderate seasonal differences between winter and summer extremes. In Egypt, the dry climate has had a beneficial effect on countless works of art, but the heat can be damaging for delicate photographs and must be adjusted in interior spaces. The creation of specialized paper and plastic housings can help to mitigate damage from an inhospitable climate, and even in a good environment, like the Museum's, housings protect photographs for careful handling.
Ibrahim also carried out treatment tests on sample photographs from our study collection, observing the effect of moist swabs on the dyes that make up color photographs and digital prints and the gelatin layers that coat photographic papers. Visual examination, as well as images taken through the microscope, is used to evaluate changes to the surface of the print—whether glossy, textured, or matte. Ibrahim took color measurements with a spectrophotometer before doing the cleaning tests and matched them with color measurements afterward to precisely quantify any change that had taken place.
Ibrahim tests dry eraser materials on a sample photograph from the Department of Photograph Conservation's study collection. Photograph by Krista Lough
All graduate summer interns at the Museum are required to develop and carry out tours for the public, and Ibrahim was no exception. Ibrahim chose to lead tours on idealism and realism in the depiction of the human body in a series of sculptures from his homeland.
Ibrahim gives a public tour in the Egyptian Art galleries. Photograph by Nora Kennedy
This article has been translated into French and Arabic (PDF) by Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, Bertrand Lavédrine, Reem Akl, and Noor Saghir.
Related Links
Department of Photograph Conservation
Internships for College and Graduate Students