Leila Hamdan is an independent GLAM professional and art historian with experience in museums, libraries, archives, and education fields. Hamdan earned a master’s degree in the Arts of Africa and African Diaspora and graduate certificate in museum studies from the University of Memphis. She also holds a BFA in fine art from the Memphis College of Art where she studied painting and metalsmithing.
Hamdan’s contributions to cultural institutions include the successful implementation of a large-scale digitization project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities; collecting and contributing materials as an archival assistant for the two time Grammy awarded Craft Recordings project, Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos; and unboxing, cataloging, and shelving one of the world’s largest, oldest, and rarest collections of metalworking books for the Metal Museum library in Memphis, TN.
She most recently published in the college textbook, Writing Memphis, 2024, and in the Manuscripts Society journal in the Spring of 2023. Her deep-rooted connection to Memphis, TN serves as a wellspring of inspiration, shaping her appreciation for the arts, culture, history, music, and community. It’s within her vibrant tapestry of influences that Leila Hamdan thrives and finds the spirit of collaboration that fuels her work.
Leila Ibrahim Hamdan 