Hafnidar

Biography

Hafnidar is an Indonesian Museum Curator Assessor and currently serves as a Regional Policy Reviewer at the Aceh Department of Culture and Tourism.

Previously, Hafnidar was the Director of the Aceh Tsunami Museum and Chief Curator. She is passionate about all aspects of museum exhibition design, especially explores inclusive concepts for enriching a significant narrative of culture and history to expand public understanding. She has been involved in oral history research with Aceh tsunami survivors, and most recently, led a joint research project with the South Asia Museum Service which covers colonial artefacts from the 19th and 20th centuries. She actively collaborates with UNDRR Kobe and has spoken at the World Tsunami Museum Conference on the subject of museum and disasters.

At the time of the ITP, Hafnidar was Head of Museum Education and Collection at Aceh Provincial Museum and was responsible for managing collections and the entire public programming. During her tenure, Hafnidar redesigned the permanent exhibition concept to promote decolonization.

Hafnidar is immensely interested in exhibition design and all of the required elements including preparation, techniques, and materials. She focused on how to convey the substantial meaning of items to enhance their display value and how to explore  new ideas at the museum. Her most challenging curatorial projects was at Balaikirti Museum which focused on the presidents of Indonesia.

At the British Museum

During her time on the International Training Programme 2017, Hafnidar was based in the Asia Department and spent her partner placement at the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums in Newcastle.

In 2017, participants were asked to develop a proposal for an Asahi Shimbun Display – a temporary exhibition in Room 3 at the British Museum – based around a ‘spotlight’ object.  Hafnidar worked with fellow Matsosane Molibeli (Lesotho) on her exhibition proposal project, entitled The Royal Touch: Basotho Blankets and Identity.

Hafnidar’s participation on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Indonesian Embassy in London.

ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 6 (2019), Global perspectives: Disaster Digital Archive (DDA) of the Tsunami Museum