Balqees Abdul-Hakeem Nakhla

Biography

Balqees started volunteering at the Birzeit University Museum in 2015, as an undergraduate student in English Literature. She was mainly responsible for tour guiding and carrying out some office tasks. Later she became a trainee on the ethnographic and art collections. This experience convinced her that she wanted to become a part of the museum world. Her new experience in culture and the arts has become a means of self-expression and being exposed to different perspectives of the world has helped change her views towards the world and her surroundings.

Now Balqees works as the Collections Assistant at Birzeit University Museum and her day-to-day responsibilities include collections management, storage and documentation. She is also responsible for preparing and storing research materials for visitors and researchers and updating the museum’s records. Moreover, Balqees started a new part-time job as a course instructor for first year students in Birzeit University. She is currently working on creating a permanent exhibition using the museum’s collections of both art and ethnography. She is also developing the collections database and accommodating the collection working to international standards with available resources. Balqees is conducting research on acquiring new skills and experiences on object handling and storage.

At the British Museum

During her time on the International Training Programme Balqees was based in the Middle East Department spent her partner placement at Norfolk Museums Service.

Balqees worked with Khine Mon Kyaw (Myanmar) on her Object in focus project. Their exhibition proposal was entitled Turkmen Textile Journeys: between identity and history.

Balqees’ place on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Altajir Trust.