Rania Matar presents From the Individual to the Collective: The Photography of Rania Matar, August 17
Members: $60 | Non-members: $100
Huntsville, Ala. – On Thursday, August 17, the Huntsville Museum of Art (HMA) is honored to welcome award-winning photographer Rania Matar for a Lecture and Preview Party to celebrate the opening of her exhibition, Rania Matar: SHE, presented by United Community Bank Foundation.
Rania Matar’s lecture is entitled From the Individual to the Collective: The Photography of Rania Matar. She has dedicated her photographic practice to exploring deeply personal narratives, drawing upon her multifaceted cultural background and cross-cultural experiences as a Lebanese-born American artist and mother. Her work explores issues of individual and collective identity, often through photographs of girls and women in the United States and the Middle East. Working in collaboration with her subjects to create intimate portraits, her work focuses on our shared humanity and emphasizes underlying similarities rather than apparent differences.
Rania Matar was born and raised in Lebanon and moved to the U.S. during the Lebanese Civil War. Matar was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 and a Leica Women Foto Award in 2022. Her work has been widely published and exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of museums and private collections worldwide. She has published four books: SHE, L’Enfant-Femme, A Girl and Her Room, and Ordinary Lives.
“Rania Matar: SHE captures the innermost essence of personal portraits that inspires and empowers,” said Christopher J. Madkour, HMA’s Executive Director. “The Huntsville Museum of Art is honored to present Rania Matar’s award-winning photography reflecting women in time and place. The Museum is grateful for the generous support of United Community Bank Foundation.”
SHE features over 50 large-scale color images of young women in their 20s—the ages of Matar’s own daughters—leaving the cocoon of home and transitioning into womanhood. In earlier projects, Matar photographed young women in relation to the controlled environment of their bedrooms. Here, she captures them in the larger arena they find themselves in after leaving home—the global and complicated backdrop that now constitutes their lives in transition. Exhibition organized by Rania Matar and The Museum Box LLC, Boston, MA.
Rania Matar: SHE will be on display from August 19 through November 26. To purchase tickets to the Lecture and Preview Party, click here. Enjoy a selection of fine wines and passed canapés by Chef Narvell.
Matar will also be leading a Master Artist Workshop, The Portrait: Expressing Identity, at the HMA Academy in October. During this workshop, students will explore all aspects of portrait photography, from framing and lighting to body language and the relationship of the photographer to the model. To register for the workshop, click here.
Rania Matar: SHE would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors:
Presenting Sponsor: United Community Bank Foundation;
Lead Sponsor: Boeing
President’s Circle Sponsors: Samia Spencer
Artists’ Circle Sponsors: Donny’s Diamond Gallery and Golnaz and Behrouz Rahmati
Additional support: Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Huntsville Museum of Art Guild
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About the Huntsville Museum of Art
The Huntsville Museum of Art is a non-profit municipal corporation established by the City of Huntsville, Alabama, and governed by a city-appointed Museum Board. The Museum seeks to foster understanding of the visual arts and appreciation of artistic achievement. In addition to its galleries and exhibitions, the Museum offers art classes for children and adults along with special programs, lectures and musical presentations. Rental space is also available for weddings, meetings and other events.