🔒Afghanistan native Hemat aims to diversify Wadsworth Atheneum’s collection, customer base

Diversity has become a major focus for most arts institutions in Connecticut and throughout the country as museums, theaters and other organizations invest in outreach efforts to attract a broader, younger and more ethnic audience.

Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum is no exception, and as part of those efforts it recently hired Hamid Hemat, a native of Kabul, Afghanistan, as a fellow curator.

Hemat — who has extensive experience working as a curator for various Afghanistan-based institutions — was brought on in September to recommend more diverse projects the museum could undertake.

He’s also tasked with sifting through the Wadsworth’s approximately 16,000-stored artifacts, looking for diverse art the museum hasn’t traditionally highlighted.

His position is unique because it’s being partially funded by Hartford HealthCare, which is providing $20,000 annually for the next three years to help underwrite Hemat’s salary.

“I want to bring out the other side of art; how to bring patterns and visual items to life,” said Hemat, who, in Afghanistan, was interviewed numerous times by local media for his knowledge of Islamic art. “We need to be more ethnically diverse and learn about different works of art. Audiences value diversity.”

In the short term, Hemat will put his energy into organizing exhibits on the influence of centuries-old Islamic art in the western world, including the United States.

Islamic art, he noted, is “mainly figurative art with a rich history.” Figurative art describes any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world, and particularly to the human figure.

Later, Hemat said, he’d like to explore exhibits highlighting women in art as well as art from ethnic, non-European countries.

It’s a massive undertaking that Wadsworth leaders believe the 34-year-old Hemat — who received his training in traditional arts, calligraphy, sculpture and oil paintings — is equipped for.

“We’ve never had someone before whose job is to launch into the sheer breadth and depth of the collections here,” said Wadsworth director Matthew Hargraves, who is Hemat’s direct supervisor. “Hamid is absolutely phenomenal with his knowledge of almost every process of making art because he is a scholar and an artist himself. He brings a great perspective to the many artifacts and objects we have in the collection.”

Urban appeal

The Wadsworth opened its doors in 1844 and is the oldest continually operating public art museum in the United States with 75,000 square feet of exhibition space. It’s best known nationally and internationally for its collection of European Baroque art, French and American impressionist paintings and Hudson River School landscapes.

The Wadsworth – which has about 100 full- and part-time employees – had $163.6 million in net assets at the end of its 2021 fiscal year, which ran through June 30, 2021, according to its latest annual report. In addition, it has a $10.5 million annual budget, of which about one-third is from philanthropic support. The rest comes from earned income, individual donations, foundation grants and government support.

In fiscal 2021, the Wadsworth had a $4.3 million operating surplus.

Hargraves concedes that The Wadsworth — like many other well-known arts institutions — has a challenge with diversity that Hemat was brought on to change.

“At the moment, if you came to visit us, you would see mostly European and North American works of art,” Hargraves said. “Hamid will help us rediscover parts of the collection that we have not given proper attention to; that have been marginalized over time, such as work from Latin America, African collections, Asian collections, Persian and Islamic collections and Native American art.”

Other Greater Hartford arts institutions, including the New Britain Museum of American Art, are also focused on diversifying their collections and customer base.

“Diversity is extremely critical in urban areas like New Britain,” said New Britain Museum Associate Curator Lisa Hayes Williams. “It’s becoming increasingly evident in recent years that you need more diversity in art in order to be more welcoming. We need to serve our members and share their stories.”

Williams noted that 42% of New Britain’s population is of Latin descent, while 13% are Black and 18% immigrants.

“That’s a huge demographic, and Hartford – which is even more diverse – is right down the road,” Williams said. “In 2017, we undertook a collection analysis looking at all the works in our collections, we really broke it down statistically. We were really shocked to discover how few women artists and artists of color were represented here.”

Since that time, she said, the museum has initiated rollouts of several exhibits highlighting women artists and artists of color.

Hemat said the four main types of art he will focus on short term are floral designs, geometric art, calligraphy and figurative. He said many art-goers might not know, or be aware, that in the Muslim world, those types of art are prevalent.

He noted that Iran and Afghanistan offer a treasure trove of figurative art, while Iran and Pakistan stand out for their calligraphy collections.

“Travel to these Islamic countries and you will see different dress codes and different works of art from village to village and province to province,” said Hemat, adding the often-turbulent history of art in places like Afghanistan dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Hemat organized numerous shows, exhibits and collections in Afghanistan with a focus on cultural awareness and the empowerment of women through art and culture.