Rania Matar draws upon her own cross-cultural background to explore personal narratives with her young female subjects. Born and raised in Lebanon, Matar moved to the United States in early adulthood. Her dual sense of identity and homeland shapes the way she sees the world and her approach to depicting girls and women in their own home environments.

Home is the setting for many of Matar’s photographs. In the series “A Girl and Her Room,” she explores the passage from girlhood to adulthood by capturing teenagers in their bedrooms, places of material and emotional refuge. In 2020, when people around the world were confined to their homes during COVID-19 lockdowns, Matar began her series “On Either Side of the Window,” photographing people at a distance through their windows and doors. “The sense of being inside or outside was blurred,” Matar recalls. “I aimed to capture the intimacy, beauty, anxiety, and rhythm of daily life in quarantine.”