Dr. Sadra Zekrgoo received his PhD in Materials Conservation from the University of Melbourne in 2018, and his M.A. in Conservation of Fine Arts, specializing in paper conservation, from Northumbria University (UK) in 2012. He is an art conservator and researcher who has studied traditional Persian writing inks and artist material for over a decade. Since 2015, he has conducted several traditional Persian ink-making workshops for the Islamic Museum Australia, University of Melbourne, Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM), and the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. His research interests include historical reconstruction of artist material, non-invasive analysis, and the transference of knowledge through oral history.
His PhD research focused on the reconstruction of traditional Persian black inks and finding non-invasive analysis techniques to differentiate such inks from one another. By creating a multispectral photography station and capturing images of the manuscript under different light sources (visible, infrared, and ultraviolet), and through the process of False Colour Infrared (FCIR) imaging, black inks on case studies from The University of Melbournes Special Collection were identified and differentiated. Identifying the types of inks inform conservators, curators, and collectors, of the preservation, storage, and potential treatment of the manuscripts.
