Hilary McDonald – Archaeologist, Photographer
BA, BDes, MSc – International Museum Studies.
Hilary currently works for the Epigraphic Survey in Luxor, Egypt where she photographs inscribed stonework to assist in scientific documentation. Other recent work includes the Iraqi Emergency Heritage Programme with the British Museum which took her to south Iraq for 6 weeks with an international team in Autumn 2016. She is experienced in a variety of documentation techniques and has been working as an archaeological photographer in the field since 2008.
She has experience working on excavations in Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Egypt and Iraq and is drawn to working and travelling throughout the Middle East. Away from the field, she has experience in Canadian archaeology, museum workshop training and assisting in running a community centre in Alberta. She is passionate about cultural heritage and has used her skills in design and photography to best present archaeological work and ideas. Trained in museology, she has researched museum objects and their relationship to source communities.
She uses her personal photography to convey ideas about the passage of time — the traces on and of things left behind. Recently, she initiated a repatriation project where local art returns to its original landscape.