The Metropolitan Museum of Art has the most talented staff in the world. And, since 1939, they’ve shared their work with one another through employee art shows. The exhibitions are typically held every other year but are private affairs. This year, for just the second time ever, the show is open to the public. “Art Work: Artists Working at the Met” opened earlier this week at the famed museum and runs through Dec. 1. It features work by 640 staffers, from guards and technicians to conservators, librarians, and ticket-takers. Here, seven of them tell us about their work.
Armia Malak Khalil, Senior Security Officer (Security)
“Ushabti (A Substitute for the Afterlife),” 2024
Khalil grew up in Egypt surrounded by sculpture. “It’s everywhere,” the 45-year-old said. “I studied classical painting, but I taught myself sculpture copying the Ancient Egyptians.”
He first came to the US in 2006. He had no family, no friends, no connections, but eventually found a community of Coptic Christians from Egypt living in Jersey City. “I started doing some wood carving for the church there,” he said. “The priest let me use a corner of the basement for my art.”
He began working as a security guard at the Met in 2009 and continued making sculptures inspired by his Egyptian heritage. He based the plasticine figurine in this show on the Ushabti — statuettes that were buried next to the deceased to help them in the afterlife.
“There were about 401 of them in each tomb, and I loved the idea of making my own with different materials,” said Khalil, who also has a gorgeous wooden bust, “Hope,” in another Met show, “Flight Into Egypt,” on view through Feb. 17, 2025.
“It’s the first time one of us guards is in a major exhibit,” he said. “They’re all so proud of me. It’s been really so surreal, so divine.”
Christopher Fahey, Storeroom One Specialist (Registrar’s Office)
“And of course, the lemon disenfrancese folds in: A. … B. … C. …”
As a storeroom specialist, Fahey gets to handle some of the most precious objects of art in the world. “You will really be surprised at the art people send through FedEx,” the 44-year-old said. “Like really, really old art!”
Fahey, who lives in Ridgewood, Queens, is a poet and mixed-media artist who uses found materials in his sculptures. He started this one with a piece of redwood that he saved from the trash at an old job. He’s spent the past two years adding scraps of paper or weaving different threads or objects onto it. “I’ve been making art like this for the past 10 years,” he said.
Helping install the employee art show is the highlight of his job. “It’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “We’re all getting a lot out of working here, but [the Met is] also getting a lot from artists working here.”
Amanda Kraemer, Operations Assistant, Groups & Advance Sales (Visitor Experience)
“Allegory of Flowers – J Pierpont Goldfinch,” 2024
Kraemer was going through her late grandfather’s belongings when she came across a plaque he had hanging in his studio, saying “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
“I was like, I have to somehow incorporate this into my next piece,” the 42-year-old said. She surrounded it with collaged paper flowers and birds that she painted symbolizing hope and persistence.
Kraemer, who grew up and still lives in City Island, was close to her grandfather, a commercial artist who taught her calligraphy and watercolors. During a dark period in her life, her grandfather’s mantra “became a mediation for me to rise above the negativity,” she said. “This is a tribute to him.”
She is excited to have it on display at the Met.
The exhibit “is an opportunity for those who work here to transcend the transactional nature [people can have with] museum workers,” she said. “It gives us a chance to show visitors who really works here.”
Love Ablan, Collections Photographer (Imaging)
“Anima,” 2024
Ablan’s aunt and godmother, Concepcion (or Lola Go-Go to her family members), nearly wept when she saw her niece’s mixed-media photo portrait at the Met. There was a photo of her as a young girl — dressed in white at a piano recital — alongside one of her mother, Victoria, in a debutante gown in their native Philippines.
“The name of the piece is ‘Anima, and it’s Latin for feminine aspects, but also soul,” Ablan explained “My godmother is the heart and her mom is the soul of my family.”
Ablan grew up in Jamaica, Queens, and her “fondest childhood memories” took place at Lola’s house — eating, playing with her seven cousins and listening to her godmother play the piano. Early in her career, Ablan traveled the world studying art and working as an editorial photographer. But, two years ago, the Met came calling. Now, she lives in Harlem.
“In this post-pandemic world, the only thing I really wanted was to be near my family again,” she said.
Amanda Rothschild, Business Analyst (Technology)
“Sink,” 2020
For the past 12 years, the 32-year-old Harlem resident has been painting pictures of sinks and drains.
“I really enjoy all the different textures and shapes,” said Rothschild, who started working at the Met in 2014, initially selling tickets. “It’s an everyday object that people overlook.”
When scouting for subjects, she looks for retro color palettes and interesting textures like rust or water damage. She based this particular work on a light blue sink she saw in the bathroom of a Greenpoint coffee shop. “Probably half of the pictures on my phone are just of sinks and drains in various places,” said Rothschild, who has been a part of three previous employee art shows.
“My job is very technical — no one that I’m working with is talking about or working with art directly, and so this is a cool opportunity,” she said. “It’s really great to see what people do.”
Aleya Lehmann, Assistant Administrator (Photograph Conservation)
“Day of Night” 2013/2024
Her photographs look like Whistler paintings — moody and enigmatic. The 66-year-old artist puts as much care into them as well. She sews the garments her models wear, arranges the props and settings, and spends a weekend with her subject experimenting. Long-exposure times lead to ghostly, evocative images.
Lehman has been painting and photographing for decades, but coming to the Met five years ago has influenced her art.
“There was [a Richard] Avedon show here a few years ago, of his murals, and that fed into my wish to print [my photos] really large,” she said. For the show she took a work from 2013 and blew it up, printing it on a long sheet of Japanese mulberry paper.
“It’s a very special place,” she said of The Met. “You feel like you’re contributing to something, whatever it is that you do in your job, whether it’s something very elaborate, extravagant, or something very day to day, you’re contributing to living history, which is definitely a unique feeling.”
Solomon Azaraev, Maintainer, Masonry (Buildings)
“Solverado,” 2024
Azaraev is the sole member of the Met’s mason shop. “I don’t really consider myself an artist,” the tattooed 44-year-old said sheepishly, posing with the battery-operated trunk he made, based on the Chevy Silverado. “But after 20 years being around masterpieces and creative things, I guess it rubs off a little bit,” he said with a laugh.
It all started five years ago. At the time, Azaraev was in the carpentry shop and decided his crew needed something more efficient than a flat dolly to transport their tools. He constructed a mini Jeep with compartments and drawers. “My colleagues fell in love with it, and forced me into putting it in the show,” the Howell, NJ, resident said. This is his third creation. “People get a kick out of it, so I don’t mind seeing the smiles.”