Congratulations to Nora Kennedy, Sherman Fairchild Conservator of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the 2011 recipient of the HP Image Permanence Award. This award is given by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) in partnership with the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) and is sponsored by the Hewlett-Packard Company.
“Established in 2006, the HP Image Permanence Award recognizes advances in colorant and print media materials that significantly increase permanence; advances in predictive science that increase the validity of permanence predictions or provide insight into optimal storage and usage conditions; and/or educational efforts that raise awareness of the effect of storage and usage conditions on permanence.”
Nora is specifically being recognized for her outstanding contributions that advance the longevity of photographic and fine art images created via modern digital methods in the form of her co-leadership with Debbie in organizing the Mellon Collaborative Workshops in Photograph Conservation, the creation and distribution of digital sample book and for leading the creation of the Photograph Information Record (PIR). Since any single digital print process can change in behavior from generation to generation in only a few years, the PIR is an important link between the object and the actual materials that produced it. It’s the best tool that we have at the moment to prevent an information black hole in institutions that collect digital prints.
Nora’s willingness to engage contemporary artists in discussion regarding materials choices, exhibition and mounting (all related to preservation) as well as the general care of photographs including digital prints was also noted by the awards committee.
For more information about the award see http://www.imaging.org/ist/membership/honors_desc.cfm?AwardCode=HPIP
Posting courtesy of Doug Nishimura, Image Permanence Institute.