Norhan Hassan Salem

Biography

Norhan is a Curator at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC), and an Exhibition Coordinator for the Technical Office of the General Director in the museum. She in involved in several areas of the museum, and participates in the implementation of temporary and permanent exhibitions and displays: creating exhibitions briefs, interpretation materials, and installation. She also organises schedules for all departments’ projects and follows up on their reports, including long and short-term plans.

Norhan recently worked on obtaining financial fundraising to establish a virtual Ethnographic Museum. The museum includes different displays with a number of Egyptian ethnic groups, including groups that have not been represented before in Egyptian museums and ethnographic collections, in addition to representing various aspects of tangible and intangible heritage such as traditions, proverbs, folk songs, deities, local events and forms of celebration. The project proposal was accepted by ICOM ICME to be presented in the annual conference, held in December 2023.

Norhan previously worked as a Registrar in the Registration Collection Management and Documentation Department (RCMDD), and as a Museum Educator at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. She has worked at EMC since 2012 to present with different specialties.

Noor has a Bachelor in Egyptology from the Faculty of Archaeology, Egyptology Department at Cairo University and a Diploma in History of Art from the same university. Currently, she is preparing her master’s thesis in Greco-Roman art titled: Mummies’ Cartonnage in Greco-Roman era in Egypt, Artistic- Anthropological study at the Greco-Roman Department. Noor was the Archaeological Specialist of the Children’s Museum of Lego.

Norhan has participated in the following projects – Egypt Documentation Project, the British Museum, Department of Egypt and Sudan, and the Ministry of Antiquities. And the Memphis Site and Community Development project (MSCD), Ancient Egypt Associates (AERA), University of York and the Ministry of Antiquities. Norhan is a member of the Egyptian Coffins Conservation Project (EMCCP).

Norhan published a paper in ICOM – CIMCIM Conference which was held in Paris in February 2020. She participated in ICOM – CIDOC in the virtual conference which was held in December with a paper entitled: The impact of Egypt Documentation Project – the British Museum on the Collection Management of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

At the British Museum
During her time on the 2017 ITP, Noor was based in the Department of Egypt and Sudan and spent her partner placement at Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives.

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.  Norhan worked with fellow Zulkifli bin Ishak (Curator, Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia) on her exhibition proposal project, entitled Royal Headgear: Symbolism, Protection and Kingship.

Legacy projects
In October 2018 Noor attended the ITP+ Course on Museum Interpretation in Aswan. Fellows and colleagues from Egypt, Sudan and around the world listened to interpretation case studies and participated in project work, sessions on label & panel writing and panel discussions on audience surveys and evaluations. The course was hosted by the Nubia Museum.