Rania Matar

Biography

Rania Matar (b. 1964) explores issues of personal and collective identity is her series SHE. Photographs of female adolescence and womanhood are captured in the United States and the Middle East where the artist has resided. She focuses on notions of identity and individuality, within the context of the underlying universality.

Her photographs are in permanent collections worldwide, including the Broad Museum of Art, Lansing MI; The Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles CA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Portland Art Museum, Portland OR; the Worcester Museum of Art, Worcester, MA; and the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA among many others. A mid-career retrospective of her work was recently on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art: In Her Image: Photographs by Rania Matar and at the American University of Beirut Museum in An Image and Her Women. She was born and raised in Lebanon and currently lives in Boston where she teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

My work addresses the states of ‘Becoming’– the fraught beauty and the vulnerability of growing up –in the context of the visceral relationships to our physical environment and universal humanity. By collaborating with women in the United States and in the Middle East ‐ and while still looking to reveal the individuality of each young woman ‐ I focus on our essence, our physicality and the commonalities that make us human, ultimately highlighting how female subjectivity develops in parallel forms across cultural lines”.
Rania Matar

Solo Exhibitions
2021
Rania Matar: SHE, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA; C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD; Obscura Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Rania Matar, Vevey Ville d’Images, Vevey, Switzerland
SHE, Escape Routes, Bangkok Art Bienniale 2020, Bangkok, Thailand
On Either Side of the Window, Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Orlando, FL

2020
SHE, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
A Image and Her Woman, American University of Beirut Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2019
SHE, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA
In Her Image, The Cleveland Museum of Art at the Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH
Invisible Children, Galerie Tanit, Munich, Germany
A Girl and Her Room, Governor’s Academy Gallery, Newbury, MA

2018
In Her Image: Photographs by Rania Matar, Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth, TX
Rania Matar: A Selection of Photographs, Landskrona Photo Festival, Landskrona, Sweden
A Girl and Her Room, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
Girls and Women by Rania Matar, cle contemporary, Milan, Italy
Girls and Women by Rania Matar, Galerie Tanit, Beirut Lebanon
SHE, Galerie Tanit, Beirut, Lebanon

2017
Becoming: Girls, Women and Coming of Age, RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
L’Enfant-Femme and Invisible Children, Galerie Eulenspiegel, Basel, Switzerland

2016
Invisible Children, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD
In Her Image, Photographs by Rania Matar, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Forth Worth, TX
Becoming: Girls, Women and Coming of Age, East Wing Gallery, Dubai UAE
Deux Univers: Enfants et Femmes, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut, Lebanon
Mortal Things: Portraits Look Back and Forth, Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, MA
Becoming: Girls, Women and Coming of Age, Picture Gallery, Bloomington, IN
Aftermath:The Fallout of War – America and the Middle East, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL

2015
A Girl and Her Room, Galerie Eupenspiegel, Basel, Switzerland

2014
Women of the Middle East, Toot Yung Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
Ordinary Lives, Arab-American Museum, Dearborn, MI
Deserted Spaces and Ordinary Lives, curated by Kinzelman Art, Houston, TX
Women of the Middle East, Alliance Francaise de Singapour

2013
L’Enfant-Femme, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA
A Girl and Her Room, Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne, Germany
A Girl and Her Room, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Ordinary Lives: Women of the Middle East, Sana Gallery, Singapore

2012
A Girl and Her Room, SouthEast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL
A Girl and Her Room, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
Girls In Between: Portraits of Identity, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
A Girl and Her Room, Leica Gallery, Warsaw Poland
A Girl and Her Room, Umbrage Gallery, Brooklyn NY
A Girl and Her Room, Leica Headquarters Gallery, Solms, Germany
A Girl and Her Room, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut
A Girl and Her Room, The Foster Gallery, Dedham, MA

2011
A Girl and Her Room, The Mosaic Rooms at the A.M Qattan Foundation, London, UK
Portraits of Teenagers, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
A Girl and Her Room, De Santos Gallery, Houston, TX

2010
A Girl and Her Room, Gallery of Photography B&B, Bielsko Biala, Poland
A Girl and Her Room, Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL
A Girl and Her Room, Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA

2009
Ordinary Lives, The Mosaic Rooms Gallery, London UK
Ordinary Lives, Mt Ida College Gallery, Brookline MA
Ordinary Lives, MANEGE, St. Petersburg by invitation, St. Petersburg, Russia
Ordinary Lives, The Institute of Contemporary Art, ICA, Boston, MA
Ordinary Lives, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut

2008
Contrapuntal Lines, A tribute to Edward Said, Koppelman Gallery, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Women of Islam in the Aftermath of War, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Lebanon at the Crossroads, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI
The Veil, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene, TX
The Veil, Council for Foreign Relations, New York, NY
Lebanon at the Crossroads, Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA

2007
Aftermath of War, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
The Veil, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburg, PA
The Veil, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, MAtion.

Group Exhibitions
2021
In Her View, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
I am One Acquainted With the Night, Studio La Città, Verona, Italy
Multiple Voices/ Multiple Stories, Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins, Winter Park, FL
All We Carry, Pratt MWP College of Art and Design, Utica, NY
Intersect 21, Galerie Tanit, Online
i’m yours: encounters with art in our times, ICA/Boston, Boston, MA
Breaking the Frame: Women Artists from the Harn Collections, Harn Museum of Art, Julia C. and Budd H. Bishop Gallery, Gainesville, FL
Art in Isolation: Creativity in the time of COVID-19, Middle East Institute, Washington, DC
Contemporary Muslim Fashions, Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum, New York, NY

2020
Elizabeth M Claffey & Rania Matar, Herron School of Art + Design Gallery at IUPUI, Indiana University/Perdue University Indianapolis, IN
A Yellow Rose Project, Curated by Meg Griffiths and Frances Jakubek, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
Keeper of the Hearth, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
Lights in the Tunnel: Creating Art in the Shadow of COVID-19, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
Devotion, What Will You Remember, online
Korea International Photo Festival, Seoul Arts Center, Hangaram Museum, Seoul, South Korea
Particular Portraits, Essex Art Center, Lawerence, MA
Just Kids, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Earthly Figures, Foley Gallery, New York City, NY
Contemporary Muslim Fashions, Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City, NY
Mara’ina (Invisible Children), King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Portrait of Women by Women, Centro Cultural, FIESP, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Being Seen, Recent Acquisitions from the Collection, The Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
Pictura Gallery at FAR Center for CENTER Competition Winners Exhibition, Contemporary Arts, Bloomington, IN

2019
Live Dangerously, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Contemporary Muslim Fashions, Museum Angewandte Kunst, franfurt, Germany
She Who Tells a Story, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
Recent Acquisitions by Contemporary Artists, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, IN
Taswir – Contemporary Arab Photography, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo Brazil
Presence of Being, Laconia Gallery, Boston MA

2018
Contemporary Muslim Fashion, de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Parenthood, The Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
Summer ’18, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD
The Future of America, Hudgens Center for the Arts, Duluth, GA
Féminités Plurielles, Galerie Tanit, Beirut Lebanon
She, Galerie Tanit, Beirut, Lebanon
People and Places: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection of Dr. Anthony Terrana, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
Bridging Division: Empathy and Humanity, The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC
Palestine through Photography: 70 Years After the NAKBA, Samir Kassar Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon
SHE: Ohio Portraits, The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
Instantanés d’Orient, Fondation Boghossian-Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium
Aftermath: The Fallout of War- America and The Middle East, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
‘I AM’, National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan

2017
Action at a Distance, Angela Meleca Gallery, Columbus, OH
Invisible Children, PhotoMed, Lebanon
Aftermath: The Fallout of War – America and The Middle East, The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH

2016
The Taylor Wessing Photographic Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and The Arab World, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
Aftermath: The Fallout of War – America and The Middle East, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL
Menschenskinder: Children’s Worlds Between Desire and Reality, Arp Museum, Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany

2015
Gordon Parks and Rania Matar: Exposure, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Fraction of a Second, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM
Eyes on Main Street, Wilson Outdoor Photo Festival, Wilson, NC
She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and The Arab World, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, PA
She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and The Arab World, Cantor Arts Center, San Francisco, CA
A Girl and Her Room, Galerie Eulenspiegel, Basel Switzerland

2014
The Collector’s Eye: The Maloney Collection, Fotofest, Houson, TX 
 Breaking Ground: Contemporary Photography, College of William an Mary, Williamsburg, VA
A Source of Identity: Contrasting Personal Environments, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH
Outspoken: Six Women Photographers, Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy, Milton, MA
The Middle East Revealed: A Female Perspective, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY
Bridge to Palestine, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut
The Other and Me, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah UAE
Ladies Only – Contemporary Women Photographers, Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
Making Space: Beyond a Room, Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery, Broward College Central Campus, Davie, FL
DonneXDonne, Galleria Del Cembalo, Rome (Palazzo Borghese)

2013
She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and The Arab World, curated by Kristen Gresh, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Women on the Verge, Women Photographers from the Middle East, The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai

2012
Fotografia 2012: International Photography Festival of Rome Book Exhibition, curated by Douglas Stockdale, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea , Rome, Italy

2011
A Girl and Her Room, curated by Robert Morton, Lishui Photo Festival, China
Ordinary Lives, curated by Marc Prust, Rome Photo Festival, Rome, Italy
Rebirth, curated by Janine Maamari and Danièle Giraudy, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut
Griffin Museum of Photography Annual Juried Exhibition, curated by Debra Klomp, Winchester, MA
Photo National 2011, curated by Brian Clamp, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, MA
Off the Wall, curated by Susan L. Stoops, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
Exposure 2011, curated by Whitney Johnson, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA

2010
Griffin Museum of Photography Annual Juried Exhibition, curated by Dr. Jörg Colberg, Winchester, MA
Annual Group Exhibition, Newspace Center for Photography, curated by Darren Ching, Portland, OR
I-95 Triennial Invitational Exhibition, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME
Act of Faith, Noorderlicht Photography, Abdijdmuseum Ten Duinen, Koksijde Belgium
International Art of the Lebanese Diaspora winners exhibition, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beruit

2009
Beyond Place: Recent Photography Acquisitions, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Three Concerned Wome, curated by Constantine Manos , Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
New England Photographer’s Biennial, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA
The Pursuit of Happiness, Noorderlicht Photofestival, The Netherlands

2008
MCC Grant Recipients Exhibition, Trustman Art Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
Photographs of Children from the Permanent Collection, De Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA

2007
Act of Faith, Noorderlicht Photofestival, curated by Mr. Wim Melis, The Netherlands
MCC Grant Recipients Exhibition, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA
25th Anniversary Exhibition, curated by Anne Tucker, Houston Center for the Arts, Houston, TX
Moving Walls International sponsored by OSI, Soros Foundation, Espace SD, Beirut

2006
9th International Photography Gathering, Le Pont Gallery, Aleppo, Syria
Secunda Bienal Argentina de Fotografia Documental, Museo de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Collections
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth TX
Broad Museum of Art, Lansing MI
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland OH
Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham MA
Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley MA
DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park, Lincoln MA
Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington IN
Fidelity Investments, Boston MA
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg MA
The Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY
The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier OH
The Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville FL
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles CA
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City MO
Newport Art Museum, Newport RI
Portland Art Museum, Portland OR
The Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
Saradar Collection, Beirut Lebanon
Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach FL
Tufts University Permanent Art Collection, Medford MA
Worcester Museum of Art, Worcester MA

Awards
2019
CENTER 2019 Editor’s Choice Award 1st Place Recipient, selected by MaryAnne Golon, Director of Photography, The Washington Post
Finalist BNL, BNP, Paribas Group Award, MIA Photo Fair, Milan, Italy
Nomination Infinity Award 2019, International Center for Photography, Manhattan, NY

2018
Guggenheim Fellowship, Photography, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

2017
Mellon Foundation Artist-in-Residence Grant, The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH

2016
L’Enfant-Femme: Best Book of 2016, PDN Magazine and Foto Infinitum

2015
The Taylor Wessing Photographic Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
Unspoken Conversations: Mothers and Daughters, Lens Culture Portrait Award finalist

2012
A Girl and Her Room best book, Photo-Eye, PDN, Journal de la Photographie, Feature Shoot
Runner-Up: L’Enfant-Femme, Silver Eye Center for Photography Fellowship Competition Juror’s Commendation Award, Julie Saul Gallery, NY

2011
Commission Award, The George Gund Foundation Annual Report
The Legacy Award, Griffin Museum of Photography, Klomching Gallery, NY
Artist Fellowship, Massachusetts Cultural Council
First Prize “Off the Wall”, Danforth Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, MA
Finalist, The European Publishers Award for Photography

2010
Winner Honorable Mention UNICEF Picture of the year award, A Girl and her Room
COLOR Magazine Portfolio Spotlight Award
People’s Choice Award, A Girl and her Room, finest photography in New England
Top 50 Winner, Critical Mass, Photolucida
Winner 2nd Place for Px3 – Prix de la Photographie Paris for the Aftermath
Winner 3rd Place: Art of the Lebanese Diaspora, Beirut Lebanon
Honorable Mention: CENTER Project Competition Award, A Girl and her Room
Honorable Mention: CENTER Curator’s Choice Award, A Girl and her Room

2009
Winner First Place: Best Photo Essay, Ippies Award: Refugees: Aftermath of War in Lebanon, published in Nueva Luz #13, New York Community Media Alliance
Finalist, James and Audrey Foster Award, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Honorable Mention, Santa Fe Center for Photography, Santa Fe, NM
Top 50 Winner, Critical Mass, Photolucida

2008
Top 50 Winner, Critical Mass, Photolucida
Top 100 Distinguished Women Photographers, Women in Photography International
Middle East Award Cash Prize, Al Thani Photography Competition
Honorable Mention, Berenice Abbott Prize for an Emerging Photographer

2007
Artist Fellowship, Massachusetts Cultural Council
Top 50 Winner, Critical Mass, Photolucida
First Place, Women in Photography International
First and Purchase Prize: Danforth Museum of Art, New England Photographers Biennial
Finalist, Women to Watch 2007, Massachusetts Chapter National Museum of Women in the Arts
Invitation to Moving Walls International, Open Society Institute, Soros Foundation

2006
Honorable Mention, Santa Fe Center for Photography, Santa Fe, NM
Honorable Mention, Berenice Abbott Prize for an Emerging Photographer

Press
2020
Michael Kirchoff, Rania Matar, Catalyst Interviews, July 1

Jared Bowen, Photographer Rania Matar, “The Age of Innocence,” and more, Open Studio with Jared Bowen, WGBH TV, June 26

Rania Matar : On Either Side of the Window, L’Oeil de la Photographie, June 15

Michael Abatemarco, Rania Matar at Richard Levy Gallery, Pasatiempo in Santa Fe New Mexican, June 5

Katie White, Rania Matar’s Captivating Photographs of Young Women Around the World Capture the Tranistory Beauty of Adolescence, Artnet News, June 4

Jean Dykstra, FOCUS ON: Rania Matar, Photograph Magazine, June

Nancy Nesvet, Where Does the Art Wold Go From Here?, ARTSCOPE, May/June

Art In: John Baldessari, Rania Matar, and The BFA Show, Musee Magazine, May 15

Danny Mallat, Ces confinés derrière la fenetre… et l’objectif de Rania Matar, L’Orient-le Jour, May 13

Merrill Allen, AT THE MUSEUM: What happens to creativity in quarantine?, Newport News, May 9

The Horizons of Relations, Preview: Korea International Photo Festival 2020, Monthly Photography Magazine, South Korea, May 2020

Cate McQuaid, With window portraits, a photographer can ‘forget a little the sadness’, Boston Globe, April 30

Lamia Baladi, Women’s History Month: Rania Matar, Musee Magazine, March 8

Muriel Rozelier, Expo Rania Matar, Commerce du Liban, February 

AUB President’s Perspective, January 31

Edgar Davidian, Sur les chemins intimes de la femme, L’Orient-le-Jour, January 29

Maghie Ghali, Capturing Women’s Quiet Courage, The Daily Star, Lebanon, January 22

Capturing Femininity, The Daily Star, Lebanon, January 17

Rania Matar : An Image and Her Woman, L’Oeil de la Photographie, January 17

Chris Bergeron, Angling for the Truth, Metro West Daily News, January 12

Alicia Eler, Kid-centered photo show is anything but cute at Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 9

Kathy Berdan, ‘Just Kids’ – New photo exhibit at Minneapolis Institute of Art focuses on kids, Twin Cities Pioneer Press, January 3

2019
Rebecca Anne Proctor, Highlights from Ithra’s ‘Mara’ina’ exhibition, ArabNews, December 20

Mara’ina Exhibition at Ithra, The Design Souk, December 19

Lebanese photographer Rania Matar explores women in nature for new US exhibition, Architectural Digest Middle East, December 18

Sarah Cascone, Editors’ Picks: 15 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week, ArtNet, December 16

Vanessa H. Larson, A view of women’s bodies, by 12 female photographers, that is by turns playful, provocative and profound, Washington Post, November 27

Miss Rosen, Reclaiming the Sacred Space of the Divine Feminine in Nature, Featureshoot, November 25

Josie Taris & Frank Stasio, Lebanese-American Photographer Documents Shared Experiences of Girlhood, Interview on Public Radio, WUNC, November 8

Broad Strokes, Art Fix FridayNational Museum of Women in the Arts, October 25

Laurence Butet-Roch, Preview of Living Dangerously, British Journal of Photography, September Issue

Katie Booth, Landscape Photography Through the Female Gaze, Aperture, September 20

Opening This Week: Live Dangerously, National Museum of Women in the Arts, September 18

A Celebration of Women, by Women, PDN Photo of the Day, September 16

Charlotte Janson, Do Women’s Bodies Share a Special Relationship with Nature?, Elephant Magazine, September 4

Orin Zahra, Live Dangerously, National Museum of Women in the Arts Magazine, September

Manuela De Leonardis, Rania Matar: La bellezza del divenire, Il Fotografo, July

Jill Waterman, Tools of the Trade: Survey of AIPAD’s Fine Art Photography Audience, EXPLORA – B&H Photo Video, July

Ricky Aggarwal, The 5 Female Arab Artists that We Fell in Love With, AQUILA STYLE, June 26

Alison Freeland, Alumni Profile: Rania Matar, MainGate AUB Magazine, Spring

Aline Smithson, The Center Awards: Editor’s Choice 1st Place Winner: Rania Matar, Lenscratch, May 22

Nelly Latypova, Woman Crush Wednesday: Rania Matar, Musee Magazine, May 8

Cedric Van Turtelboom, Documenting Womanhood, Marie Claire China, May

CUSP: At the Edge of Girlhood, Girl Museum, May

Sammy Dalati, At Exciting, Slightly Smaller AIPAD Photography Show, What’s Old Feels New Again, Art News, April 5

Jeanette D. Moses, Here’s what caught our eye at the AIPAD Photography show, Popular Photography, April 5

Sharon Core, Fave Photos by Female Photographers: AIPAD 2019, Beautiful Now, April 5

Loring Knoblauch, Female Photographers at the 2019 AIPAD Photography Show, Part 1 of 2, Collector Daily, April 5

Kat Kiernan, Five Contemporary Portraits to See at AIPAD 2019, Don’t Take Pictures, April 4

Cory Oldweiler, The Photography Show at Pier 94 offers something for everyone, AM New York, April 4

Rania Matar : She, Best of March 2019, L’Oeil de La Photography, March

Entrevista Com a Fotografa Libanesa Rania Matar, Select, March 27

Isaura Daniel, Photos of Middle East, USA girls featured in exhibit, ANBA, March 27

Rania Matar: She, L’Oeil de la Photographie, March 20

Elin Spring, Age of Becoming, Review of SHE at Robert Klein, What Will You Remember, March 14

Finalist BNL BNP PARIBAS Group Award 2019, MIA Photo Fair 2019 in Milan, Milan Photo Fair, February 16

Rita Balestriero, La madre di tutti i nostri amori, D Repubblica, January 12

2018
Donne che vedono mostre con altre donne, Elle Italia, December 25

Cynthia Close, Middle Eastern Women Artists & the Quest to Build Peace, Vermont Woman, Winter

Hajnal Eppley, From Girlhood to Womanhood: Photos by Rania Matar Spark Intergenerational Conversation, MEDIUM, November 30

Rania Matar – In Her Image, L’Oeil de la Photographie, November 27

Large-scale color photographs examine the commonalities of female identity in the US and Lebanon, ArtDaily, November 21

In Her Image, Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine, November/December

Anderson Turner, Review: Rania Matar’s photos open up new perspectives, Akron Beacon Journal, November 24

Carrie Wise, Rania Matar on Photographing Women and Girls, IdeaStream, November 9

From Woman to Woman – Rania Matar, Vogue Italia, October 28

Communitas Lecture: Rania Matar, Utah State University, October 8

Rafael Soldi, Q&A: Rania Matar, Strange Fire Collective, September 13

Alexxa Gotthardt, Photographing the “Beautiful Awkwardness” of Girlhood, ARTSY, September 6

Farah Hosney, Beautiful Awkwardness: The Lebanese Photographer Capturing Mirrored Lives of Arab & American Women, SCENE Arabia, September 2

Ashley Kauschinger, Interview: Rania Matar, Light Leaked, June

Roula Seikaly, Art Game Hustle: Guggenheim’s 2018 Photography Fellows on What it Takes to Earn the Most Prestigious Honor, Humble Arts Foundation NY, May 17

Rawan Ezzeddine, Review of SHE at Galerie Tanit, Al Akhbar, May 9

Hugo Lautissier, Rania Matar : Féminité sans frontière, Agenda Culturel, May 9

Danny Mallat, Quand elle devient elles, L’Orient Le jour, April 25

Maghie Ghali, Documenting changes of womanhood, The Daily Star, April 18

Adam Grundey, Reel Women, Arab News, April 7

Photographer Rania Matar On Daughters, Film, and In Her Image at Amon Carter, D-Magazine, April 5

Lyle Rexer, Interview: Rania Matar, Photograph, March/April

Marilyn Bailey, Female artists a force to be reckoned with in concurrent exhibits at the Amon Carter, Star Telegram, February 9

Steve Carter, Amon Carter Museum’s In Her Image, Photographs by Rania Matar shines, now through June 17, Patron Magazine, February 15

Anne Bothwell, Picturing Women’s Lives, From Beirut to Boston, Girl To Mother, KERA, Art and Seek, NPR, February 2

Elyssa Goodman, Inside the Private Spaces Women Can Call Their Own, Vice Magazine, January 31

Christopher Blay, Trio: The Amon Carter conjures up unspoken conversations, shadows, and secret ceremony., Fort Worth Weekly, January 24

Natalie Gempel, A Striking New Texas Art Exhibit Show Teenage Girls as They Want to be Seen, Papercity Magazine, January 9

2017
Chloe Coleman, Photography series explores mother and daughters, and their relationships around the world, The Washington Post, December 15

Miss Rosen, Growing us as a woman in the east and west, Huck Magazine, November 29

Kristin Haug, Auf dem Weg zur Frau, Spiegel Online, December 30

Growing Up and Growing Old, PDN Photo of the Day, December 28

Frantz Vaillant, Rania Matar expose les relations mères-filles, TV5 Monde, December 24

Hannah Ongley, Rania Matar’s Evocative Portraits Explore Girlhood, and Growing Old, 

I-D vice.com, December 22

Alana Melanson, Boston-based collector donating hundreds of photos to Fitchburg Art Museum, Sentinel & Enterprise News, November 16

Jacoba Urist, How Should Art Address Human Rights?, The Atlantic, April 4

2016
Elena Goukassian, Looking at the Invisible Children Growing Up as Refugees, Hyperallergic, October 4

Mark Alice Durant, Rania Matar: Invisible Children at C. Grimaldis Gallery, Photograph Magazine, September/October

Sara Cravatts, Examining Gender, Conflict and Identity in the Middle East from a Female, Perspective, American Photo, April 6

Dubai: Rania Matar, Becoming Girls, Women and Coming of Age, L’Oeil de la Photographie, January 12

Brandon Johnston, Growing up here and there, The Daily Star, January 26

Rania Matar: le personnel, image de l’universel, Agenda Culturel, January 29

Torey Van Oot, A Look Inside The Rooms Of Teens In Two Very Different Worlds, Refinery29, January 27

L’Enfant Femme, Issue Magazine, January

Recent Acquisitions – L’Enfant-Femme, Tufts University Art Gallery Spring 2016 Newsletter, January

2015
Lisa Larson-Walker, The Most Beautiful Things Slate Published in 2015, Slate, December 30

Paula Cocozza, Little Women: photographing tweens from Boston to Beirut, The Guardian, December 2

Caroline Cunningham, Feminine Mystique, New England Home, July – August

M. Thomas, Photographer Rania Matar lectures at the Carnegie about how her work reflects her life, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, September 16

Muriel Rozelier, Rania Matar: Christilla, Persoculture, Le Commerce du Levant, September

Victoria Khroundina, Womanly Transitions: The Photography of Rania Matar, SherRa Magazine, July 4

Jacoba Urist, Why can’t great artists be mothers?, Women in the World, New York Times, May 21

Photographer Rania Matar: Telling Women’s Stories, Artist interview for Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, Artsake, June 18

Manuela Mimosa Ravasio, Girl Power, Giola Magazine, Italy, March 8

An audacious artist explores the boundaries of femininity and maturity, The Fashionable Truth, Quintessentially Asia, February 19 

Kurt Shaw, Carnegie Museum exhibit shows power of day-to-day living in Arab countries, The Tribune, Pittsburgh, July 11 

Sally Ann Flecker, Visually Telling, Carnegie Magazine, Summer

Mary Thomas, Art Notes: Women photographers depict the Middle East, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, May 27

Kristen Gresh, Constructing Identities: Stories We Thought We Knew, Carnegie Museum of Art Blog, May 26

Roula Seikaly, Speaking Their Truth: Photography from Women in Iran and the Arab

World, KQED, February 7

Elizabeth Schwyzer, Beyond the veil: Women’s photographers tell stories from Iran and the Arab world, Palo Alto Weekly, January 30

Invisible Children: Photographs by Rania Matar, Anchor Magazine, Issue 3, Spring, pg. 49

David Rosenberg, These Photos Beautifully Capture the Complex Relationship Between

Mothers and Daughters, Slate Magazine, March 4

2014
Shirin Jaafari, Giving Syrian children their identities back, one portrait at a time, PRI, November 10

Kirsten King, This Photo Series Aims to Give Syrian Children Their Identities Back, BuzzFeed, November 21

Bridge to Palestine, Beirut Exhibition Center with Mark Hachem Gallery, Exhibition Catalog, July 

Elizabeth Avedon, New York: Rania Matar Talks to Elizabeth Avedon, L’Oeil de la Photographie, June 30

Women Coming of Age – A Work in Progress by Rania Matar, Fraction Magazine, July

Katherine Brooks, Four Contemporary Women Photographers Who Put The Middle East In Perspective, The Huffington Post, July 1

Women Photographers of the Middle East, CBS News, June

Michael Hodges, Striking Museum Exhibit Reveal Everyday Life, The Detroit News, March 13

Women to Watch in 2014, Femina Magazine, Sweden, January

2013
Kristen Gresh and Michket Krifa, She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World, MFA Exhibition Book, September 

What Remains, EXIT Imagen y Cultura, June

Emilie Grangeray, Chambres d’ados avec point, Le Monde Diplomatique, Magazine M, January

Mathias Morscher, Junge Frauen in ihren privaten, Gemachern, Interview, Kurier Austria – Kultur section January

Joobin Bekhrad, Ordinary Lives: Women from the Middle East, REORIENT Middle Eastern Art and Culture Magazine, January 14

Elizabeth I. Johnson, A Girl and Her Room, CNN World – CNN Photos, March

Mark Feeney, The Middle East Through women’s cameras, Boston Globe, August 31

2012
Portfolios: Rania Matar, Doc! Photo Magazine #5, November (cover)

Akshita Nanda, Make Room for Girl, The Strait Times, Life section, Singapore

Frederik Balfour, Sana Gallery Exhibition Review, Bloomberg News, December 14

Richard Speer, Blue Sky Gallery Exhibit Review, Visual Art Source, November

Mark Feeney, Photographing the Transition from Girl to Woman, Exhibition Review, Boston Globe, September 21

Gianpaolo Arena, Adolescence, Landscape Stories Book, Exhibition and Magazine, Italy, December

You are my Mirror, exhibition catalog, Ariadne Photo Gallery, Athens, Greece

Rick de Yampert, Photos capture girls caught ‘between two worlds’, Daytona Beach News Journal, September 14

Portfolio: A Girl and Her Room, Gente di Fotografia Photography Magazine, Italy

Keep Out — A Girl and Her Room, Marie Claire, Greece, August

Girl Uninterrupted, PDN pick of the month, Photo District News, July

KOSMOS: A Girl and Her Room, GEO Magazine, Germany, August

Charlotte Van Hacht, Mijn kamer, mijn koninkrijk (A Girl and Her Room), De Morgen Newspaper, Belgium, June

Olivia Flemming, A Girl and Her Room, The Daily Mail, UK, June

Intime Einblicke: ”A girl and her room”, Die Presse Schaufenster, Austria, June

LIV Supplement, A Girl and Her Room, “i” Newspaper, Portugal, June

Arianna Rinaldo, La Chica Issue #29: Rania Matar – L’Enfant-femme, OjodePez, La Fabrica, Spain, June

Was kommt nach der Schule, GEO Wissen #49, Germany, May

Susan Minot, A Girl and Her Room: Photographs from a new book by Rania Matar, Slate Magazine, Book Review, June

Claire O’Neill, From Boston to Beirut: A Girl and Her Room, NPR: The Picture Show, May 23

Maria Popova, A Girl and Her Room: Portraits of Teenage Girls’ Inner Worlds Through Their Bedroom Interiors, Brain Pickings, May

David Carol, A Girl and Her Room, Rangefinder Magazine: Photo Finish, May

Lizzie Crocker, A Girl and Her Room Exhibit: Photos by Rania Matar, The Daily Beast, Newsweek, May 20

Carolyn Gregoire, ‘A Girl And Her Room’: Rania Matar’s Photographs Show Teen Girls In Intimate Spaces, The Huffington Post, April 27

Interviews: Rania Matar on A Girl and Her Room, Photo-eye Blog, April 25

India Stroughton, Exhibition Review: Her space, if not quite her castle, The Daily Star, Lebanon, April

Magdalena Kroner, Ausstellung in Dubai: Frauen an der Schwelle, Exhibition Review of The Empty Quarter, FAZ, Germany, April

Silvia Mangialardi, Une adolescente y su cuaryo, Fotomundo Magazine, Argentina

2011
Andreas Muller-Pohl, Privacy Issue: A Girl and Her Room, European Photography 90

LaNola Stone, Photographing Childhood: The Image and the Memory, Focal Press, September

Carla Susanne Erdmann, Ordinary Lives, Leica International Magazine LFI

Nella stanza delle ragazze (A Girl and her Room), La Repubblica D Magazine, Italy

Contemporary US Photographers: Rania Matar: A Girl and Her Room, Artvas/The Photo, Korean Art/Photo Magazine, June

Shawn O’Sullivan, Rania Matar: A Girl and Her Room, Color Magazine: Spotlight Portfolio selection, January

2010
Reportage: A Girl and Her Room, Rearview Mirror Magazine, Issue #4, Italy

Cate McQuaid, Lost People, Exhibition Review, Boston Globe

Connection American: Ordinary Lives by Rania Matar, B&W Magazine, UK

2009
Mark Feeney, Just Life, Frame by Poetic Frame, Art Review, Boston Globe

Mark Feeney, A Close-up View of Everyday People, Art Review, Boston Globe

Emily Holman, Normal Lives, Extraordinary Circumstances, The Daily Star, Lebanon

Mark Feeney, Duality Inspires Lebanon Images, Photography Review, Boston Globe

Eva Medoff, Gaining Focus: A nation’s turmoil hits home for Brookline Photographer, Boston Magazine

Wim Melis, The pursuit of Happiness,Noorderlicht Photofestival Catalog, The Netherlands

The Forgotten People, Nueva Luz Photographic Journal #13, Spring

Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Why Veiling: Photographs by Rania Matar, Post Road Magazine #17, Boston College Publication

2008
Sebastian Smee, Eyes on the Prize, Foster Prize Exhibition Review, Boston Globe

Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, The Aftermath, Wellesley Women’s Review of Books

Press Release
2020 SHE at Richaed Levy Gallery
2015 Exposure at Richard Levy Gallery