In Her Image: Photographs by Rania Matar

December 20, 2017–June 17, 2018

Second floor

This exhibition brings together four bodies of work by the Lebanese-American photographer Rania Matar that trace the development of female identity through portraiture. Depicting transitional moments of life, from young girlhood to middle age, Matar’s works address personal and collective identity through photographs mining female adolescence and womanhood. Photographing girls and women in both the United States and the Middle East, the artist shows how the forces that shape female identity transcend cultural and geographic boundaries.

Exhibition Highlights

Rania Matar

Andrea, Beirut, Lebanon, 2010

Inkjet print

A color photograph of a light-skinned teenage girl lounging on a top bunk, twirling her long hair around a finger, sports medals slung around a bedpost.

Rania Matar

Siena, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2009

Inkjet print

A color photograph of a White teenage girl on a pillow-strewn bed leaning against walls covered with pinups of models.

Rania Matar

Yasmine 12, Beirut, Lebanon, 2012

Inkjet print

A color photograph of a light-skinned pre-teen girl seated on a white sofa holding a fuzzy white pillow in front of her torso.

Rania Matar

Maryam 9, Beirut, Lebanon, 2011

Inkjet print

A color photograph of a light-skinned pre-teen girl, dressed all in white, including a headscarf over her head.

Rania Matar

Soraya and Tala, Yarze, Lebanon, 2014

Inkjet print

Two color photographs: on the left, a White teenage girl with long curly hair wearing a tank top; on the right, a White woman with short curly hair wearing a white tank top, arms crossed over her chest to hold her shoulders.

Rania Matar

Alia, Bourj El Barajneh Refugee Camp, Beirut, Lebanon, 2011

Inkjet print

P2018.34

A color portrait photograph of a young medium-skinned girl wearing a red sleeveless shirt and red plaid pants standing in front of a door.