The art of diplomacy: Weston man assesses Iraq's museums

Weston man's mission: help with post-war healing

Photo of Amanda Cuda

Staff writer

When a nation is torn apart by war or a coup, it raises many questions: What will become of its people? What will become of its leadership?

But there's one question that might not immediately leap to mind: What will happen to that country's museums? In fact, in the wake of major upheavals, museums and the like are often forgotten.

Stuart Gibson, however, hasn't forgotten. Gibson, who lives in Weston, is the senior cultural expert for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). His job is to offer advice and support to cultural institutions, including museums, in troubled countries. Earlier this year, Gibson went to Iraq to assess museums in the region, including several in Kurdistan in Northeastern Iraq. During his journey, he also traveled to the embattled city of Mosul, home to a museum still reeling from the effects of a 2003 looting.

What Gibson found was a nation with a dedicated arts community struggling to come out from under the shadow of war. This struggle was evident everywhere he went, he said, particularly the Mosul Museum. Before the American invasion, many of the museum's artifacts were evacuated to Baghdad and remain there today. But plenty of items were simply stolen by thieves, and other objects were damaged, as was the building itself.

"You could see this really exquisite building from the 1970s that had endured this pillaging and abuse," Gibson said. "When you entered the building there was a great sense of loss. (But) it wasn't dead. There was a glimmer of what it used to be. It reminded me of an injured person."

His job is to help places like the Mosul Museum heal by meeting with museum directors and other interested parties and showing them how their facility can survive, despite a lack of funding or a loss of inventory or other problems. But, a lot of the time, Gibson said, his job is to simply be there to provide support for these establishments.

"These institutions are going through enormous times," Gibson said. "They have to be reassured that the international community has not abandoned them."

In times of strife, Gibson said, one's thoughts don't immediately turn to restoring a war-torn nation's museums. Other facilities, such as schools and hospitals, are deemed more important, and that's understandable. But institutions that preserve a country's art and history are also vital and shouldn't get lost in the shuffle. "Culture belongs to all of us," Gibson said. "If we don't recall our past, I think we're really jeopardizing our future."

His own past is somewhat colorful, and includes two years spent studying to become a Catholic priest. The religious life didn't take, however. Instead, Gibson pursued a career in the arts. He worked in theater for a while and had a love of nearly all art forms, including classical music, poetry and visual art. "I've always been fascinated by the arts," he said. "I love all the arts."

That passion eventually translated into an interest in those institutions that protect and preserve art -- museums. Today, Gibson is managing director of the private consulting firm Coartus and is an international expert on museum resource development. He's worked with UNESCO on projects all over the world for more than 15 years.

The connection began in the 1990s, when Gibson decided he wanted to "save" the arts sector of the former Soviet Union. To help accomplish this goal, he picked up his family and moved to Europe -- first to Spain, then Paris. It was in Paris that Gibson became acquainted with UNESCO, which is headquartered in the city and decided it would be the best avenue through which to help museums in Russia and other formerly Soviet countries. "They're a neutral place," Gibson said of UNESCO. "They're not aligned with any particular country."

Working under the umbrella of a neutral organization makes him a less threatening presence, Gibson said, and allows him more accessibility in other countries. After connecting with UNESCO, he led the organization's project at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has also worked throughout Central Asia, and Eastern and Center Europe.

Like many others, Gibson followed news of the war in Iraq with sorrow, and was particularly distressed with the impact the conflict was having on the nation's cultural institutions. Several museums were looted, including not just the Mosul Museum but also the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, considered by many to be Iraq's most important museum. Unlike the Mosul Museum, which remains closed, the Iraq National Museum reopened earlier this year but is still missing thousands of artifacts.

The impact of these thefts is huge, said Tamar Teneishvili, UNESCO Cultural Program Specialist for Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Like Gibson, she believes that museums are the guardians of a nation's history. "The museums in Iraq are the keepers of the wealth of Iraqi cultural heritage," said Teneishvili, who is based in Jordan and was reached via e-mail. "This is extremely important in a country that is, without any exaggeration, a cradle of civilization."

In the wake of the war, she said, the biggest obstacle faced by all of Iraq's cultural institutions -- including not just museums, but also libraries and theaters -- "is the almost-total absence of policy and strategy."

That's where Gibson came in. In 2007, UNESCO sponsored a three-week workshop led by Gibson in Amman, Jordan. During that workshop, Gibson talked to the directors of nine Iraqi museums about the problems they faced, including damage and loss of property, and offered suggestions for how they could recover. It was at this meeting that the seeds of Gibson's mission to Iraq were sown.

Gibson said he's stayed in touch with many of the institutions he visited, and he plans to go back to Kurdistan in September. He's also eyeing future projects, including a possible mission to Cuba. He loves working with the international artistic community, because it's a fairly non-confrontational way to reach out to troubled nations.

"There's such an emotional element to this," he said. "(Art) brings different cultures together. It's a rather exceptional space to work in."