 Rania
Matar Photographer’s
Biography
Rania Matar
was born and raised in Lebanon and moved to the U.S. in 1984. Originally
trained as an architect at the American University of Beirut and
Cornell University, she worked as an architect for many years before
studying photography at the New England School of Photography, and
at the Maine Photographic Workshops in Mexico with Magnum photographer
Constantine Manos. She currently works full-time as a freelance
photographer, while raising her family, and is starting a new project
teaching photography to teenage girls in refugee camps in Lebanon,
with the assistance of non-governmental organizations, and to teenage
refugees in Boston with the assistance of Children’s Hospital. While
most of her work focuses on the Middle East, in Boston, where she
lives, she photographs her four children at all stages of their
lives, and is currently working on a new body of work titled “A
Girl and her Room” photographing teenage girls from different countries
and backgrounds.
Her work has
been published in photography and art magazines, and exhibited widely
in solo and group shows in the U.S. and internationally, at museums,
colleges, galleries, and photo festivals. She was recently awarded
an artist grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, first prize
at the New England Photographers Biennial, first prize in Women
in Photography International, and honorable mentions at the Photo
Review, CENTER Santa Fe, the Silver Eye Center for Photography,
the Julia Dean Photo Workshops for the Berenice Abbott Prize, and
the Prix de la Photographie Paris Px3 for “The Human Condition”.
In 2008 she was selected as one of the Top 100 Distinguished Women
Photographers by Women in Photography, and was a ?nalist for the
prestigious James and Audrey Foster award at the Institute of Contemporary
Art in Boston with an accompanying exhibition.
Her images are
part of the permanent collection of many museums, including the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Portland Art Museum, Oregon; the
De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park; the Danforth Museum of Art;
the Kresge Art Museum; the Southeast Museum of Photography; and
of private collections including the Anthony and Beth Terrana Collection,
the Ed Oswoski Collection, the John Cleary Estate and the Emir of
Kuweit Collection.
Her first book titled “Ordinary Lives” has just been released, published
by the Quantuck Lane Press and WW Norton.
Artist
Statement - Boston 2009
The
focus of my photography is the Middle East, on women and children
especially. Lebanon in particular is interesting because of its
key location as a gate to the Middle East, between the West and
the Arab world. I grew up and lived in both Lebanon and the U.S.
I am a Lebanese insider who speaks the language, knows the country,
and understands its people, but also an outsider who can see Lebanon
and its complexities through Western eyes, who can still be intrigued
by the dichotomies that are shocking to the Westerner, but unnoticed
by the locals.
The images are from four interrelated bodies of work: The Aftermath
of War, a photographic essay of life in Lebanon after the numerous
wars the country has gone through; The Veil: Modesty, Fashion, Devotion
or Statement, studying the relatively recent spread of the veil
and its meanings among Muslim women in Lebanon; The Forgotten People,
portraying life in the decaying Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon;
and a few images from a more recent project The Forgotten Christians,
portraying a very devout Christian life in the Middle East. I also
included a couple of images from this past summer from my trip to
Jerusalem and the West Bank.
These images are not meant to represent all facets of Lebanon as
a country, or to be political, but they focus on the universality
of being human no matter what the circumstances are, of being a
mother, a father, a child, or a young woman no matter what background
or religion one belongs to. Girls have friends, bond, and giggle
behind their black veils; mothers nurse and nurture their children
in refugee camps; toddlers bring a smile to their mothers’ faces
regardless of surrounding circumstances.
Throughout my work in Lebanon, I was welcomed into people’s homes
and lives, and I was humbled by people’s resilience and hospitality.
Religion and political affiliations did not matter. In these photos
I concentrated on people who did not lose their humanity and dignity
despite what they have been and are still going through. I tried
to portray them as the beautiful individuals they are, instead of
as part of any religious or political group. I concentrated on the
spirit with which they continue with the mundane tasks of daily
life no matter what their circumstances: their lives that are ordinary
in a surrounding and a political climate that are often anything
but ordinary.
Articles
Normal lives, extraordinary circumstances - Rania Matar’s
‘Ordinary Lives’ renders the mundane exceptional through their settings
By Emily Holman, Special to The Daily Star, November. 09,
2009
“Ordinary
Lives”, the new book by Lebanese photographer Rania Matar, is an
intelligently titled work. The photos within depict people whose
everyday lives have been disrupted by terrible circumstances. The
moments she captures are ordinary, though their setting renders
the mundane remarkable. The title is a tribute to the bravery of
Matar’s subjects, whose fortitude – even in the oppressive confines
of a decaying refugee camp or in the heart of war – is extraordinary.
The first photograph of the collection, for example, depicts a woman,
a girl and a boy. The woman sits in a plastic chair, calling out
to someone with a glint in her eye. Giggling mischievously, the
girl leans on the chair with an ease that implies the woman is a
close relative. The boy is absorbed by the task of eating an apple.
In the background is a cavernous wreck of shattered buildings that
seem to be collapsing at the exact moment of the snapshot. The street
is clattered with bricks, windows, balconies, shutters.
Like the other photos in this book, this tableau hints at stories
that tease and intrigue the reader’s imagination. Though the images
are all black-and-white, no common theme unifies them, apart from
the beauty in which they are rendered.
Another photo shows two intersecting washing lines. Each is lined
with pegs but no clothes have been hung out to dry. Above the pegs
hangs a large square frame. It too is empty, surrounding the bare
expanse of a wall pierced by bullet holes.
Sometimes the black-and-white images emphasize the barrenness that
seems to govern these people’s existence. At others, one thinks
of what might have been lost by narrowing the chromatic range.
One photo finds a woman standing at a window, her back to the camera.
She is clutching the curtain that she has pulled to one side, as
though the vista outside the window makes it necessary for her to
hold onto something for support. A sequined sunflower pattern adorns
her back, which jars with the fear that dominates the mood of the
scene. In such a photo, the vividness of color could, by magnifying
the juxtaposition, add dimensions to the piece.
“Ordinary Lives” compiles three of Matar’s photo projects and at
times the book comes dangerously close to being repetitive. The
final photos of the first project all circle the issue of feminine
beauty in the context of war. Girls peer into broken mirrors, and
gaze ardently at ads or beautiful clothing. They have their eyebrows
waxed and hair brushed. The effect of the study is to detract from
the impact of photos that, individually, are strikingly unique.
On the whole, however, compiling photos from three different projects
is effective. Comparing the works is intriguing. Matar’s second
project examines the hijab (Muslim headscarf). The impact of the
photos is accentuated by their contrast with the more Western-looking
photos that preceded them.
The repetition of themes sometimes works rather well. Having seen
20 photographs dedicated to the hijab, for instance, it is instantly
noticeable when a woman in hijab appears in the midst of another
project. The head covering is the binding element in the series,
yet the photos leave the spectator to focus upon the woman beneath,
rather than the hijab itself.
One photograph shows a muhajiba woman walk past a row of five enormous
posters, each depicting a famous Lebanese face. Their faces are
immensely naked in contrast. The effect is to suggest a critique
of the practice of wearing hijab, even while demanding the tradition
be respected.
Interspersed among the photographs are short bits of writing, all
of them well-written and informative. Especially challenging are
the two poems by Lisa Suhair Majaj.
The New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid has also contributed
an essay to the book. A commentary upon Matar’s images, Shadid seizes
upon the opportunity to also reflect upon the nature of journalism
itself, in which lives are too easily obliterated and a death necessarily
becomes a statistic. He pays tribute to Matar’s ability to capture
the “ordinary lives” of the people who prove themselves resilient
even while facing daily terror and trauma.
Debates rage about war photographers. Susan Sontag once famously
opined that war photography is a sickening art that ought to be
banned. “Ordinary Lives” is a challenge to such a view. Its photographs
are framed with such humanism that, more than (mostly stunning)
pieces of art, they are mementos of the subjects they capture.
They are, in any case, well worth scrutiny.
Rania Matar’s “Ordinary Lives” can be found in select Beirut
bookshops
In
French: Quand la caméra se dote d’une incomparable sensibilité…
Par Edgar DAVIDIAN, 12/10/2009, L'Orient Le Jour
EXPOSITION
Sous le titre «Ordinary lives» (Vies ordinaires), une
trentaine de photos et un livre édité à New
York, pour la caméra gourmande, sélectifs et frémissants
de sensibilité de Rania Matar, qui expose à la galerie
Janine Rubeiz jusqu'au 23 octobre.
Femmes en foulards, gravats
d'après-guerre (2006), camps de réfugiés dévastés,
regards d'enfants... Autant d'images émouvantes pour un monde
ordinaire, certes, à l'humanisme particulier et à
la fraternité morcelée, mais visant toujours un avenir
meilleur et plus
lumineux.
Mariée, mère
de quatre enfants, architecte émigrée aux États-Unis
depuis 1984, Rania Matar n'en a pas moins une passion dévorante
pour la peinture qu'elle couronne avec une thèse sur Picasso,
mais aussi pour la photographie qui supplante peu à peu toutes
les autres activités.
Photographe à
part entière, cette jeune femme qui admire l'œuvre de Henri-Cartier
Bresson, Costa Manos et Josef Koudelka offre aujourd'hui au public
ses « instantanés » - heureux, décisifs
et parfaits moments pour la réussite d'une image - glanés
au hasard de ses attentes et inspirations dans un Liban pris entre
tourmente de guerre, préoccupations religieuses et quotidien
ordinaire où l'enfance a sa touchante part de beauté,
de candeur, d'innocence, d'espoir...
Une trentaine de photos
(quatre de grands formats et les autres plutôt de dimensions
moyennes et larges, la plupart en noir et blanc et quelques autres
avec des couleurs tout en subtilité, comme un tableau des
maîtres de la Renaissance) sont exposées aux cimaises
de la galerie Janine Rubeiz.
Des images qui révèlent
l'identité féminine malgré le port du voile
où parfois seuls les yeux sont visibles, telle cette jeune
étudiante en médecine à l'AUB.
Des images qui ont de
l'humour, telles ces trois nonnes grecques-orthodoxes aux mimiques
presque comiques, debout devant un banc d'église, gauches
de leurs mains qui les encombrent... Ou de ces lectrices du matin,
s'informant en sages écolières adultes des dernières
nouvelles, assises en rang d'oignons, toutes enveloppées
de noirs, avec au milieu d'elle une dame BCBG en manteau ramené
sur le ventre, au visage caché par un journal tenu à
hauteur d'yeux.
Que dire alors de cette
mère qui allaite son enfant tandis que sa fille, assise tout
près d'elle, tient affectueusement sa poupée en un
amusant duplicata qui singe les adultes.
Superbes sont aussi ces prises d'un monde soufflé par les
bombes et déluge de feu où les cuisines, les voitures,
les canapés, les cadres des photos, ces implacables et tendres
témoins du passé et de la vie, baignent entre pierraille,
poussière et désordre lunaire.
Et brusquement émerge
la vie à travers la photo de Feyrouz pour une chanson qu'on
ne murmurera plus, d'une serviette suspendue sur un crochet de fortune
pour une vaisselle qui ne se fera plus, un coussin sans housse où
l'on ne se posera plus la tête pour une furtive rêverie,
un accessoire décoratif sur une voiture totalement défoncée
qui ne roulera plus pour une randonnée en campagne...
Et ces amoureux en bord
de mer, elle drapée et entortillée dans ses étoffes
en carapace de vertu, mais suintant la sensualité avec un
paquet de cigarettes en mains, et lui col de chemise ouverte sur
un torse levantin velu et le regard qui en dit long sur son désir
malgré l'écran de ses grosses lunettes noires.
Avec poésie, humour,
tendresse, un regard futé oscillant entre celui d'un sociologue
avisé et un anthropologue averti, et une remarquable sensibilité
dotée d'une technique photographique hautement maîtrisée,
Rania Matar va au-delà des simples apparences et débusque
l'indicible dans ces vies ordinaires en y incluant avec discrétion
la part de dénonciation d'une société riche
en paradoxes et contradictions.
Tout comme son livre,
richement édité, portant le même titre que son
exposition (136 pages - Quantuck Lane Press, New York), agrémenté
de poèmes de Lisa Suhair Majaj (détentrice du prix
de poésie Del Sol Press - À retenir ces fragments
de phrases : « La destruction est une manière de mourir
et non de vivre... Et nous sommes tous, chacun de nous, épris
de lumière...) et préfacé par le brillant journaliste
Anthony Shadid, qui a obtenu en 2004 le prix Pulitzer pour ses reportages
en Irak. Livre qu'elle a signé samedi 10 octobre à
la librairie Antoine à l'ABC d'Achrafieh.
More
Articles:
- A Girl and her room (Photos and text)
- Just life, frame
by poetic frame - Documentary eye inspires Matar’s shows
- Light Breaks the Darkness: An Interview
with Rania Matar
►► Some
of the artist's artwork
Online Portfolio:
raniamatar.com
Contact:
rania@raniamatar.com
Address: 143 Tappan Street, Brookline, MA 02445 | Tel:
617-538-2256
|
