Digital Preservation Specialist
Director General of Archives & Senior Expert in Visual Document Preservation
Paris / Erbil
Eminent international expert and specialist in the scientific preservation of historical documents and chemical negative archives, and architect of comprehensive metadata and taxonomy systems for the long-term digital preservation of nations' visual memory.
500K+
Negatives Preserved
IPTC
Metadata Standard Lead
3D
Heritage Scan Pipeline
Kia Rastar is a documentary photographer and master visual archivist who leads the systematic preservation, chemical stabilization, and high-resolution digitization of historical and contemporary Middle Eastern negatives for Middle East Images.
On EVE's council, Kia architected the open metadata standards for the Mesopotamian Heritage Archive, structuring Dublin Core and IPTC protocols so that every documented monument and photograph remains searchable for centuries.
His work bridges analog conservation chemistry with modern cloud-based archival standards.
2016
Film Restoration Laboratory
Managed conservation projects for rare Middle Eastern 35mm and 120mm negatives in Paris.
2019
Head of Archival Preservation
Appointed to lead physical and digital repository preservation at Middle East Images.
2023-2026
EVE Heritage Archive Integration
Deploying open-access digital taxonomy for Mesopotamian heritage assets.
2020 · Heritage Preservation Consortium
International Archival Fellowship
Conferred for innovation in non-destructive negative scanning.
Archival Protocol
EVE Mesopotamian Metadata Standard
Tri-lingual metadata architecture for open historical research.
Field Conservation
Erbil Citadel Glass Plate Preservation
Digitizing early 20th-century glass plate negatives of Kurdistan.
“Preservation is an act of resistance against the erosion of time.”
“An uncatalogued photograph is like a letter that was never delivered.”
