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Where Do I Go?
Where Do I Go?
Rania Matar
April 24, 2025
Barbie Girl
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut, 2006
The 2023 LOBA finalist reveals the realities of life for young women who grew up in the shadow of war and who continue, to this day, to feel the consequences of the ongoing tensions. A cross-generational connection, interwoven with femininity, reflection and architecture.
Matar’s exhibition presents the effects of a complex civil war on the individuality of a single person. The photographer’s cross-cultural narrative – she grew up in Lebanon and lives in the USA – is reflected in her work. The images are defined by collective identity, by female dignity, adolescence and shared humanity. The focus is on majestic presence and strength.
The expression Where do I go? came from a message the photographer saw painted on a house wall and which she considered to be more than just graffiti. The title picks up the fundamental question with which many people in Lebanon are currently faced: considering the large wave of emigration, they must make the painful decision of whether there is still reason to hope or whether it is time to leave their homeland behind.
The project, which is on display from April 10 to May 22, 2025, has been developing smoothly over the last five years. Matar does not aim to provide solutions, but rather to invite the viewer to pause and appreciate. The project is first and foremost a love letter to the women of Lebanon. For all those who stay and for all those who have left.
Eliza TrappMatar’s exhibition presents the effects of a complex civil war on the individuality of a single person. The photographer’s cross-cultural narrative – she grew up in Lebanon and lives in the USA – is reflected in her work. The images are defined by collective identity, by female dignity, adolescence and shared humanity. The focus is on majestic presence and strength.
The expression Where do I go? came from a message the photographer saw painted on a house wall and which she considered to be more than just graffiti. The title picks up the fundamental question with which many people in Lebanon are currently faced: considering the large wave of emigration, they must make the painful decision of whether there is still reason to hope or whether it is time to leave their homeland behind.
The project, which is on display from April 10 to May 22, 2025, has been developing smoothly over the last five years. Matar does not aim to provide solutions, but rather to invite the viewer to pause and appreciate. The project is first and foremost a love letter to the women of Lebanon. For all those who stay and for all those who have left.
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Rania Matar
Rania Matar+-
Born and brought up in Lebanon, Matar moved to the USA in 1984. She studied Architecture and later Photography, at, among others, the New England School of Photography. She received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018. In 2021 her book, She (Radius Books), was published: a series of portraits that show women and being a woman beyond borders limitations. Matar teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. More
Barbie Girl
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut, 2006
Barbie Girl
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut, 2024
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut
© Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Tanit Beirut