About this Event
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of photography at Leica Store and Gallery Meatpacking with our electrifying Saturday Morning series, Behind the Binding!
Join us for an invigorating presentation with artist Rania Matar as she reveals the stories behind the project and publication, Where Do I Go?
Programming begins promptly at 11:00 AM.
Seating is first-come, first-served.
Following the talk, indulge in signed books with the artist!
Seating is limited, so be sure to reserve your spot in advance!
Where Do I Go?
Published by Kaph Books
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War, Boston-based photographer Rania Matar (born 1964) collaborated with young Lebanese women to visualize their life stories and complex relationships to their beautiful, war-torn homeland.
Having immigrated from Lebanon to the United States when she was 20, Matar sees herself in her portrait subjects—many of whom have found themselves at the same critical juncture, deliberating whether to stay or leave. Her photographs of the women are rooted in empathy and empowerment; she encouraged the women to become active participants in the image-making process, presiding over their bodies and making the environment their own.
The series captures the women as they embrace life and its attendant risks: climbing on rocks and trees, jumping fully dressed into dirty water and waterfalls, and trespassing into abandoned buildings. A series of essays that reflect upon life in Lebanon accompany Matar's majestic portraits.
Born and raised in Lebanon, Rania Matar moved to the U.S. in 1984. As a Lebanese-Palestinian-American artist and mother, her cross-cultural experience and personal narrative inform her photography.
Matar’s work has been widely exhibited in museums worldwide in solo and group shows, including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, LACMA, Carnegie Museum of Art, ICA/Boston, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Fotografiska, Institut du Monde Arabe, Middlebury Museum of Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, The Eskenazi Museum at Indiana University and more. It is part of the permanent collections of several museums.
A mid-career retrospective of her work was on view at Cleveland Museum of Art, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and American University of Beirut Museum.
Matar received several awards including a 2026 Takreem America Award for Cultural Excellence, 2022 Leica Women Project award, 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2017 Mellon Foundation artist-in-residency grant, 2021 (also 2011, 2007) Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grants, 2011 Griffin Museum of Photography Legacy Award, 2008 ICA/Boston Foster Prize. She was a finalist for the Oskar Barnack Award 2023, Arnold Newman Prize 2022, and Outwin Portrait Competition 2022 with an exhibition at Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery/DC.
She curated “Louder Than Hearts”, a group exhibition of women from the Arab World and Iran, Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. 2025
Matar published five books:
Where Do I Go? 2026; SHE, 2021; L’Enfant-Femme, 2016; A Girl and Her Room, 2012; Ordinary Lives, 2009 photography to slow the photographic process and create lasting visual narratives.
Event venue & nearby stays
Leica Store and Gallery New York, 406 West 13th Street, New York, United States
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