Born and raised in Lebanon, Rania Matar moved to the U.S. in 1984. Originally trained as an architect at the American University of Beirut and at Cornell University, she now works full time as a photographer, focusing on personal photography projects. She teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Matar’s work has been widely exhibited in the US and internationally most recently at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, as part of She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and The Arab World, at Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York as part of The Middle East Revealed, and in a solo exhibitions at Carroll and Sons Gallery Boston; Southeast Museum of Photography Florida; Blue Sky Gallery in Portland Oregon; Galerie Janine Rubeiz in Beirut; Sana Gallery in Singapore; Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg Germany; Leica Gallery in Solms Germany; Toot Tung Art Gallery in Bangkok Thailand; Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates, and at the Bank of America Center in Houston during Fotofest 2014.
Later this year, her work will be part of the group exhibition She Who Tells a Story at the Carnegie Museum of Art, and in 2016, her images from the Middle East will be included in Aftermath, an exhibition curated by Carol McCusker at the Harn Museum of Art in Florida.
Her images are in the permanent collections of several museums, institutions and private collections worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum; Worcester Museum of Art; Davis Museum of Art at Wellesley College, The Girls’ Club Collection, and more.
Matar has won numerous awards, including 2011 Legacy Award at the Griffin Museum of Photography, 2011 and 2007 Massachusetts Cultural Council artist fellowship, first place at the New England Photographer Biennial and Women in Photography International; and honorable mentions at 2010 UNICEF Picture of the Year Award, Lens Culture Exposure International, Silver Eye Center for Photography Fellowship, and CENTER.
