— photo-eye Gallery

A Girl and her Room
Portfolio Introduction

How to use our image viewer

How to purchase a print

Rania Matar Bio

Chronology
1964	Born, Beirut, Lebanon

1984	Moved from Lebanon to the United States and transferred from the American University of Beirut to Cornell to study Architecture, and minor in Art.

1987	Graduated from Cornell with a degree in Architecture. Moved to Boston and started working as an architect in a design firm.

2002	Started working full time as a fine art and documentary photographer.

2005	Workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico with Constantine Manos and Stella Johnson.

2006	Got stuck in the war in Lebanon with my kids. After coming back to the US, I went back to Lebanon to photograph the aftermath.

2007	Ordinary Lives won first Prize at the Photographers' Biennial at the Danforth Museum of Art, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship.

2008	Selected as one of the 100 Photographers, by Women in Photography International.

2008	Finalist for the James and Audrey Foster award with an exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

2009	"Ordinary Lives" with a text by Anthony Shadid was published by the Quantuck Lane Press.

2009	The new body of work "A Girl and her Room", photographing teenage girls in their private spaces emerged as a project.

2011	A Girl and Her Room received many awards including A Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Grant and the Legacy Award at the Griffin Museum of Photography. It was widely exhibited in the US and internationally and published in numerous magazines.

2011	I started the new body of work - still in progress - La Femme-Enfant.

2011	Teacher at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

2012	A Girl and Her Room is released in the spring, published by Umbrage Editions with essays by Susan Minot and Anne Tucker.

	Top of Page

Awards
2011	Legacy Award 2011, Griffin Museum of Photography

2011	First Prize Winner - Off the Wall, Danforth Museum of Art

2011	Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Grant, Boston, MA

2011	PDN Magazine Photo Annual

2011	Finalist European Publishers Award for Photography

2010	Honorable Mention UNICEF Picture of the Year Award, Germany

2010	Honorable Mention - Project Competition Award, CENTER, Santa Fe

2010	Honorable Mention - Curator's Choice Award, CENTER, Santa Fe

2010	3rd Prize Winner, International Art Exhibition of the Lebanese Diaspora, Beirut

2010	Second Place Winner: Aftermath, Aftermath of War in Lebanon, Px3 Aftermath, Prix de la Photographie Paris

2010	First Place: Best Photo Essay the 2009 Ippies Award:, New York Community Media Alliance

2009	Honorable Mention, Lens Culture

2009	Honorable Mention, The Photo Review

2009	Honorable Mention, Singular Image, CENTER

2008	Honorable Mention, Berenice Abboot Prize, Julia Dean Workshops

2008	Honorable Mention, Prix de la Photographie, Px3 The Human Condition

2008	Finalist James and Audrey Foster Award, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston

2007	Best of Show, The Center for Fine Art Photograhy, Fort Collins, CO

2007	First Place, Women in Photography International

2007	Purchase Prize, New England Photographers' Biennial, Framingham, MA

2007	Grant, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston, MA

2007	Portfolio Spotlight Award, B&W Magazine

2007	First Place, Photojournalism Category, Women in Photography International

2007	Second Place, Juried Competition, Texas Photographic Society

2006	Honorable Mention, Silver Eye Center for Photography Fellowship Competition

	Top of Page

Solo Exhibitions
2013	A Girl and Her Room, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany

2013	Ordinary Lives: Women from the Middle East, Sana Gallery, Singapore, Singapore

2013	L'Enfant-Femme, Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA

2012	A Girl and Her Room, Leica Gallery, Solms, Germany

2012	A Girl and Her Room, Leica Gallery, Warsaw Poland

2012	A Girl and Her Room, The Foster Gallery, Dedham, MA

2012	A Girl and Her Room, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut

2012	A Girl and Her Room, Umbrage Gallery, New York, NY

2012	A Girl and Her Room, SouthEast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

2012	A Girl and Her Room, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland OR

2011	A Girl and Her Room, De Santos Gallery, Houston, TX

2011	A Girl and Her Room, The Qattan Foundation, London, London

2010	A Girl and her Room, Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA

2010	In-Between: Portraits of Teenagers, Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL

2009	Lebanon at the Crossroads, Alliance Francaise/French Library, Boston, MA

2009	Ordinary Lives, The Mosaic Rooms Gallery, London, UK

2009	Ordinary Lives, Lost Memories, The Gallery at Mt Ida College, Newton MA

2009	Ordinary Lives and Abandoned Spaces, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut, Lebanon

2009	Ordinary Lives, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA

2008	The Veil, Council for Foreign Relations, New York, NY

2008	The Veil, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene TX

2008	Women of Islam, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL

2008	Contrapuntal Lines, Koppelman Gallery, Aidekman Art Center, TUFTS University, Medford, MA

2008	Ordinary Lives, Lost Memories, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Boston, MA

2008	Lebanon at the Crossroads, Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA

2007	Lebanon at the Crossroads, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI

2007	Forgotten People, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR

2007	The Veil, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburg, PA

2007	The Veil, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, MA

	Top of Page

Group Exhibitions
2013	A Girl and Her Room, UNICEF picture of the year award, Fotokina Photo Festival, Cologne, Germany

2013	She Who Tells a Story Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA

2012	Inside the Outsider, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta GA

2012	Women on The Verge: Women Photographers from the Middle East,, The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai

2012	Boston Artists, Flash Forward Festival, Boston, MA

2011	REBIRTH, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut Lebanon

2011	American Life, curated by Robert Morton, Lishui China Photofestival, China

2011	Photo National 2011, curated by Brian Clamp, Maine University Museum of Art, Bangor, ME

2011	Teenagers: Portraits of Identity and Expression, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2011	Exposure 2011, curated by Whitney Johnson, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA

2011	17th Juried Exhibition, curated by Debra Klomp - Winner Legacy Award, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA

2011	Off the Wall, curated by Susan Stoops, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA

2011	Motherland, curated by Marc Prust, Fotografia, Rome Photofestival, Rome, Italy

2010	Juried Exhibit, Darren Ching Juror, Newspace Center for Photography, Portland, OR

2010	I-95 Triennial Invitational Exhibition,, Maine University Museum of Art, Maine

2010	International Art of the Lebanese Diaspora, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut Lebanon

2010	Prix de la Photographie Px3 Winners, Galerie Dupont, Paris, France

2010	Critical Mass 2009 Winners Exhibit, Juror Andy Adams, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle WA

2009	Best of Show: The Photo Review, Juror Ms Lelsey Martin, The University of the Arts, GALLERY 1401, Philadelphia

2009	Anthology: Recent Works, Aquisitions, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

2009	Man Life Circulations, Manege, St Petersburgh Photo Festival, St Petersburgh, Russia

2009	The Puirsuit of Happiness, Noorderlicht Photofestival, The Netherlands

2009	New England Photographer's Biennial, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA

2009	Best of Show: The Photo Review, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2009	27th Anniversary Membership Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2008	The Human Condition, Prix de la Photographie Px3, Farmani Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2007	Photograph of Children, Permanent Collection, De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA

2007	Moving Walls International, Espace SD, Moving Walls OSI, Beirut, Lebanon

2007	Act of Faith, Noorderlicht Photo Festival, The Netherlands

2006	Secunda Bienal Argentina de Fotografia Documental, Museo de Bellas Artes, Tucuman, Argentina

2006	Meeting with the Middle East, Aleppo, 9th International Photo Gathering, Aleppo, Syria

	Top of Page

Collections

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX

Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon

Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, Michigan

Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL

De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA

Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA

Top of Page

Bibliography

A Girl and Her Room. Rania Matar Photographer, Susan Minot and Anne Tucker Writers. Umbrage Editions, New York, NY, 2012 (photo-eye Cat# ZE832)

Ordinary Lives. Rania Matar. The Quantuck Lane Press, New York, 2009 (photo-eye Cat# NT265)

Top of Page

Education
1984 - 1987	Cornell University, Architecture Degree with Fine Arts Minor

2000 - 2003	New England School of Photography, Numerous Photography Workshops

2005 - 2005	Maine Photographic Workshops, Street Photography and Documentary Workshops

Favorite Photography Books

Exils, Josef Koudelka, (photo-eye Cat# CF040)

Here and There, Helen Levitt, (photo-eye Cat# PY078H)

Immediate Family, Sally Mann, (photo-eye Cat# AP270)

People of the 20th Century, August Sanders, (photo-eye Cat# AB253)

It's Complicated, Robin Bowman, (photo-eye Cat# ZD183H)

Rania Matar Statement

Artist Statement
L'Enfant-Femme

"L'Enfant-Femme" (the Child-Woman) are portraits of young teens and pre-teens, investigating how they interact with the camera. The only instruction I give the girls is not to smile and I allow them to fall into their poses as they wish. My aim is to portray the girl when allowed to pose herself as she wishes in front of the camera. I try to capture alternatively the angst, the self-confidence or lack thereof, the body language, the sense of selfhood and the developing sense of sexuality and womanhood girls that age experience.

For some, even though they are not smiling, one can see their sense of selfhood and the almost sensual pleasure in being photographed and in engaging the camera, while others are almost defiant in the way only teens know how to be, and others still are more separate from the camera, show more angst, are more self-conscious or look away. Those are all emotions girls of that age alternatively experience as they start being aware of who they are, of their changing bodies, their beauty, their womanhood, but also of the world around them and the standards of beauty and attitudes they think they need to emulate. They are, however, also still young girls who fluctuate between being the child they still are and the young woman they are beginning to turn into. Are they (and are we meant to see them as) little girls, teenagers, or young women?

This work was inspired by my previous project A Girl and Her Room where the focus was on the older teen within her private space. I felt I wanted to get closer and focus on the girl herself and not on the space, and simultaneously my thirteen year old daughter is transforming before my eyes, alternating between being the little girl I know and a young woman I don’t know yet. The focus is now on the younger teen, her expressions, her gestures and her body language instead of the space she occupies.

I am photographing girls in the US where I live and in Lebanon where I am originally from. The two locations are not meant to be a comparison, on the contrary, the lines blur quickly. Regardless of place, background and religion, girls that age everywhere seem united by similar feelings, aspirations and attitudes. I hope to photograph these girls every year through their adolescence.

The images are shot on medium format film and scanned. Exhibition prints are archival 30”x 40” pigment prints on Baryta paper.

A Girl and Her Room

As a mother of a teenage daughter I have been watching with awe her passage from girlhood into adulthood, with all the complications that it entails. As I am observing her and her girlfriends, I became fascinated with the transformation taking place, with the adult personality shaping up and with an insecurity and a self-consciousness that are now replacing the carefree world they had live in so far. I started photographing them in group situations, and quickly realized that those young women were so aware of each others' presence, and their being together affected very much whom they were portraying to the world. I also realized that under an air of self-assurance, those girls were often fragile, self-conscious and confused. While their bodies were developing fast into women's bodies, they were still young girls who suddenly had to behave like adults.

From there, emerged the idea of photographing each girl alone. I originally let the girls choose the place and was slowly welcome into their own private spaces: their bedrooms, an area that is theirs, that they can control, decorate, trash and be themselves in, in an outside world that is often intimidating. I spent some time with each girl so she was fully comfortable with me around and was able to let down her guards, free of any preconception of what she would like to portray consciously to the world. I was fascinated to discover a person on the cusp on becoming an adult, but desperately holding on to the child she just barely left behind, a person on the edge between two worlds. Posters of rock stars were often displayed above a bed still covered with stuffed animals; mirrors were always an important part of the room, a reflection of the girls’ image to the outside world.

Rania Matar Books
Available from photo-eye

Featured in:

A Girl and Her Room. Rania Matar Photographer, Susan Minot and Anne Tucker Writers. Umbrage Editions, New York, NY, 2012 (photo-eye Cat# ZE832)

Ordinary Lives. Rania Matar. The Quantuck Lane Press, New York, 2009 (photo-eye Cat# NT265)

Favorite Monographs:

Exils, Josef Koudelka, (photo-eye Cat# CF040)

Here and There, Helen Levitt, (photo-eye Cat# PY078)

Immediate Family, Sally Mann, (photo-eye Cat# AP270)

People of the 20th Century, August Sanders, (photo-eye Cat# AB253)

It's Complicated, Robin Bowman, (photo-eye Cat# ZD183)