Mohamed Ahmed Abd El Salam

Biography

Mohamed has a master’s degree from Helwan University- Faculty of Archeology, Islamic Department in East Asian arts, entitled Indian Mughal carpet through the artifacts and Indian Paintings in Mughal era between (16th -19th AD). He received a PhD from Helwan University- Faculty of Archeology, Islamic Department in East Asian arts in 2018, entitled Islamic Chinese Arts and Chinese influences in Japanese and Koran Art between (16th-19th AD).

Mohamed works as a curator at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, with a particular focus on the textiles collection. Since 2013 Mohamed has been focused on the re-display and re-opening of the Islamic Art Museum after the explosion in January 2013, caused damage to both the museum façade and objects on display. This has included preparing temporary exhibitions including The Future of the violated past: they will never win, to demonstrate that Cultural Heritage is stronger than those who seek to destroy it and The Museum of Islamic Art before and after damage at Agha khan Museum in Canada. This exhibition demonstrated how the museum faced the crisis and reopened their doors in 2017.

On a day to day basis Mohamed is responsible for using high technology elements in the storyline and display the Museum of Islamic Art, supervising social media, the official website and blogs. Mohamed also manages the acting and story-telling team and the collections database at the museum. He was head of the curatorial team which printed a Guide Book of the Museum of Islamic Art, published by the Ministry of Antiquities in 2016. Mohamed also enjoys being responsible for the Temporary Exhibitions and International Exhibitions of Foreign Affairs of The Museum of Islamic Art. He has worked on projects to ensure good corporation between the Museum of Islamic Art and other institutions such as the Bibliotheque National in Paris, the Museum of Islamic Art in Australia and working with faculties at the al Fayom University.

At the British Museum
During his time on the International Training Programme in 2013, Mohamed was based in the Department of Egypt and Sudan and his partner placement was spent at Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives.

Mohamed’s exhibition project proposal was entitled Idea and people Unite: A story of Christ on the Cross in Islamic art.

Mohamed’s place on the programme was generously supported by the Barakat Trust.

Legacy Projects
In 2016 Mohamed was awarded a research fellowship by the State Museums of Dresden (SKD) where he worked for six weeks on a project entitled Expanding Horizons: Tracing heavenly machines form the Arab-Islamic World.

Continued Dialogue
Since 2013 Mohamed has attended the opening of the Ming ceramic exhibition at the British Museum and has helped to document and register Islamic Coins at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Mohamed attended an Egyptian ITP Fellow reunion held at the British Embassy in Cairo, in April 2018.

ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 2 (2015), Museum profiles: Islamic Art Museum, Cairo