Across @raniamatar ’s body of work, pictures become a form of listening. In Where Do I Go?, shot in Lebanon after the Beirut port explosion, the images shift focus away from destruction and toward the women who continue to show up, rebuild, and hold their ground. Each portrait is shaped collaboratively, emerging from dialogue about place, memory, and personal history.
Women appear climbing rocks, entering abandoned buildings, or standing firmly within the landscape, gestures that feel both intimate and symbolic. The result is a body of work that speaks to endurance without romanticising struggle, and to belonging as something felt rather than fixed.
These portraits remind us that home can be uncertain, identity layered, and presence itself an act of quiet resistance.
Hit the link in bio for the full story.
Words by @kahiln
Where Do I Go? at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art. A little bit of Lebanon in Indiana. I am grateful to everyone at the museum for this opportunity to amplify our voices from Lebanon, and bear witness to our stories and histories. I am especially grateful to all the women in these pictures for inspiring me and trusting me: You give me hope for Lebanon.
This exhibition has been planned for 2 years but the timing is now so relevant — sadly.
I am giving a talk today (April 2, 5PM). Please join me. I hope I can share some beauty from my birth country — and its majestic women — and help shed some light on what’s happening in Lebanon today 🤍🕊️🙏🏽
This exhibition is beautifully curated by @elliotjleilareichert for the @eskenazimuseum
Boston friends: I will be at The Project Space today, Saturday May 16, from 2 to 5PM. Come over and say hi. Please message me when you get here and I will come and let you in.
𝗥𝗞𝗚 𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗮-𝗗𝗮𝗿: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲
𝟱𝟴𝟬 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲, 𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗿
I spent a couple days with @raniamatar who has two shows in Boston @leicagalleryboston and @robertkleingallery on top of a large retrospective @eskenazimuseum . And one understands why such abundance, as choosing the first image for this post was so hard. I love them all. Rania’s ode to the women of Lebanon runs deep. She celebrates their beauty, dignity, and resilience. These women exude the ancestral power of the feminine, some evoke Ancient Greece or India, and yet they are very much of the now. Rania’s camera frames them in highly cinematic relationship to sites(the depth of field and lateral openings are striking and often suggest traveling shots). Architecture and nature are the other heroines of these photographs. However devastated, beauty is everywhere in Lebanon. Still grand and verdoyant after all these years of war. The series is entitled: “Where do we go?”, but looking at the pictures one feels an overwhelming love. And one wonders, how do you leave?
What a great event! I am still on a high and so full of love and gratitude ❤️🙏🏼 To so many and for so much:
🔸To a great new collaboration
🔸To everyone who came from near and far in the rain and on Mother’s Day weekend
🔸To @robertkleingallery for the trust in my work always
🔸To @m97gallery for working sooo tirelessly to make it all happen on time and to perfection, and for pushing me outside my comfort zone
🔸To @seadar_construction for building such a beautiful space
🔸To @ruhljahnes@williamtruhl for designing that same beautiful space
🔸To @adjframes for the immense production support
🔸To @kent_tint for making my images sing
🔸To @leicagalleryboston for the exhibition collaboration
🔸To @jabouhamad for literally everything
🔸To Lebanon for the love and for always inspiring me in your good and bad days (praying for better ones soon) 🇱🇧
🔸To every woman who trusted me and collaborated with me
Jean and I came from Lebanon in 1984. Lebanon never left us. It’s in our hearts and our blood and here we are almost 42 years later honoring Lebanon together.
Love you all. Grateful to you all 🙏🏼
(𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 15𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 3 𝘵𝘰 5:30 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 16𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 2 𝘵𝘰 5.)
Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful mothers out there. I am also thinking of all the mothers who are suffering today (in Lebanon, Palestine, and others who are living in difficult conditions). Sending love to all. I lost my mother when I was three so it was always a difficult day for me but I am now grateful for the 4 beautiful humans who made me a mother. (Swipe to the last slide: at my daughter’s wedding. Photo by @iaritzamenjivar ❤️)
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY ❤️🌹
Just a tiny peek of this gorgeous new exhibition space in Boston 💫✨
Please join us tomorrow (Saturday) for the opening of the inaugural exhibition: 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝘿𝙤 𝙄 𝙂𝙤? (لوين روح) and the unveiling of this new elegant gallery space:
𝗥𝗞𝗚 𝘅 𝗦𝗘𝗔‑𝗗𝗔𝗥 | 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲
580 Harrison Avenue, 4th Floor, Boston
Saturday May 9
3:00 – 7:00 PM
Exhibition on view:
May 9 — September 19, 2026
RKG x SEA‑DAR | The Project Space is a collaboration between Robert Klein Gallery and Sea-Dar Construction.
@robertkleingallery@seadar_construction
The exhibition is mounted in collaboration with Leica Gallery, Boston and Adjective Framing.
@adjframes@leicagalleryboston
The space was designed by @ruhljahnes
Grateful to @m97gallery@jabouhamad@williamtruhl
Hope to see many of you!
Hello people! I know the world is crazy right now but if you need to focus on something else for a few days and are able to… there are a few spots left in my weeklong IN- PERSON portrait workshop in Santa Fe: June 22-26. It is always a fun and intense week! Join us if you want to immerse yourself in photography and make pictures in the gorgeous settings of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.
This workshop explores the many different aspects of working with and photographing people — through conversations, lectures, critiques, and on-location photography. It is always a wonderful week.
(Registrations before Tuesday, May 12th will receive a tuition discount)
☀️ Visit the link in my bio for more information
These pictures make me miss Lebanon and I hope to be there in 3 weeks! 🇱🇧
#santafeworkshops2026 #sfwsummer2026 #portraitphotographyworkshop #portraitworkshop #creativeportraiture @santafeworkshops
Boston friends, please join us:
Saturday May 9th, 3-7pm
Opening & Artist’s Reception: Where Do I Go? لوين روح
𝗥𝗞𝗚 𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗮-𝗗𝗮𝗿: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 (𝟱𝟴𝟬 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘃𝗲. 𝟰𝗙)
It’s the grand opening of the new space but also the opening of my exhibition 🤍 There will be work never shown before, in addition to a projection and some images from older projects. I hope you can make it!
The exhibition will run from May 9 — September 19, 2026
The exhibition was made possible thanks to so many priceless collaborations! @robertkleingallery@seadar_construction@leicagalleryboston@adjframes@m97gallery@ruhljahnes@williamtruhl and especially every woman who trusted me in telling our stories from Lebanon.
Grateful to all! ❤️🙏🏼
From a few wonderful days at AIPAD to cheering my husband and daughter at the London Marathon. Grateful all around: to everyone who stopped by to say hello, to so many friends and great conversations, to Stephen Frailey for giving me the opportunity to talk about my work in the context of Lebanon right now, to the galleries who put their trust in my work, to the every woman in my pictures, and finally to being able to be with my family now.
Today is the last day at AIPAD. Please stop by if you haven’t and see great photography all around. Sorry to miss you but please visit:
𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗞𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆: 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝟭𝟱
𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆: 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗕𝟭𝟭
𝗟𝗲𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗡𝗬: 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝟭𝟭
With love and gratitude ❤️
@danarrakhim thank you for the support and the great pictures
@robertkleingallery@obscuragallerysf@leicagalleryny@leicagalleryboston@aipadphoto@bellpitkinart@celsomgonzalezfalla@artintelligentsia@michaelfoley212@whatwillyouremember@deardavemagazine@stephenfrailey@jabouhamad@snikicher
“People have all sorts of stories to tell me. They insist on praising the heroic feats of a war that shouldn’t inspire any pride. But for the stories of women, it’s something else. The women have kept contact with the earth... in the ancient roles of witnesses and memory keepers. They have surpassed themselves: their strength has overcome their habits and their prejudices.” —Etel Adnan, Of Cities and Women
“While my photographs may not provide solutions or closure, I hope they nevertheless invite the viewer to pause and find the beauty, the hope, the strength, the shared humanity, and the grace that still exist despite everything. They are my love letters to the women of Lebanon. These young women inspire me and give me hope for the future of Lebanon. This project is for us all: the ones who stayed and the ones who left but can never leave.” - @raniamatar
Join us for an artist talk with Rania Matar @leicastoreboston on May 20th. Learn more via the link in our bio.
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#leicacamerausa #leicalook #leicagallery #leicagalleryboston
