Where Do I Go?

By Elin Spring

Imagine, you have shed your childhood and are poised to spread your adolescent wings. What happens if the sky is falling? Whether the sky is physical like war, societal like racism or cultural like peer pressure, pubescents feel the sharp sting of their circumstances intensely. How they bear their slings and arrows becomes a barometer of our collective future. Lebanese-American photographer Rania Matar’s solo exhibition and newly published photobook, “Where Do I Go?” takes the pulse of young Lebanese women as they negotiate their lives in a devastated country. Their spirit and tenacity project renewal as surely as a whiff of spring air. On view at Leica Gallery Boston from March 27th –  May 31st, 2026, there will be an Opening Reception with the artist on Thursday, April 9^th from 6:00 – 8:00pm.

“Yasmina, (Strength), Beirut, Lebanon, 2021” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

“Fawzia, Bhamdoun Synagogue (We Are All One), Bhamdoun, Lebanon, 2023” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

Where Do I Go? is as resplendent in its beauty as it is steeped in history and awash with metaphor. Such depth manifests the experiences of the photographer herself. Born and raised in Lebanon, Rania Matar left in 1984 during the Lebanese Civil War. She attended college in the United States, stayed, married, and raised a family. Half a century later, she finds Lebanon reeling from the effects of economic insecurity, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Beirut Port Explosion in 2020, and now, more attacks during another Middle East war. It is no accident that Matar glimpses herself in the women who are the same age that she was when she left. In redolent scenes bearing symbols like mirrors, windows, and doorways, she recognizes the parallel struggles and choices of a new generation facing threats to their future.

“Rianna (with Mirror), Amshit, Lebanon, 2024” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

“Chermine, Hamra, Beirut, Lebanon, 2022” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

At once radiant and mystical, the young women Matar portrays inhabit locations bearing the scars of conflict and corruption, but also scenes highlighting the natural wonders of this jewel by the sea. Her mellifluous compositions allow us to acknowledge Lebanon’s historical paradox of demise ensconced in halcyon settings. In one, we observe Aya draped over formerly ornate furnishings in a dilapidated, abandoned mansion. In contrast, Laura’s outstretched arms conduct a symphony of red poppies in an undisturbed field. In another, Dahlia stands sentinel in a crater formed by a single missile strike, encircled by a verdant, flowering forest. Both the spirit of the young women and the settings that echo with memories of lost splendor become emotionally sustaining forces.

“Aya (Draping), Gemmayze, Beirut, Lebanon, 2022” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

“Laura, Tannourine, Lebanon, 2023” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

“Dahlia (in the Bomb Crater), Aishiyeh, Lebanon, 2025” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

The visual tension between the silken beauty of these young women and their often-incongruous surroundings creates arresting portraits. Delicate hands, bare feet and partially exposed bodies convey a sense of both endangerment and fearlessness. But Matar’s portraits go even deeper, a consequence of her close collaborations. She assists each woman in choosing a meaningful location and complementing attire. Her nurturing validation elicits their instinctive responses, enabling us to observe attitudes and gestures that allude to internal hopes and fears. Yasmine is pensive as she curls on an exquisite handwoven rug spread atop rubble in a cavernous, graffitied room. Rhea balances with dramatic aplomb on the seatbacks of a once glamorous theater. Fawzia pauses serenely by a decaying wall, her graceful fingers gathering her mother’s headscarf around her.

“Yasmina (Hell), Brummana, Lebanon, 2022” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

“Rhea S., Piccadilly Theater, Beirut. Lebanon, 2021” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

“Fawzia (with Her Mother’s Pink Scarf), Bhamdoun, Lebanon, 2022” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.

Matar is a consummate enabler, exemplified in this recounting: “On the crumbling wall of an abandoned building, I saw graffiti scrawled in Arabic, Where do I go?.  I was with Perla, a young woman who suddenly threw herself against that wall. In that fleeting moment, that question became the title of this body of work.”  Adding to the emotional ballast of her portraits, guest essays within the book offer illuminating perspectives on Lebanon’s past and present. In “Where Do I Go?” Matar embraces the unfurling stories of becoming in a new generation of young women entangled in a precarious dance with the future of Lebanon.

For more information about this exhibit: https://leicagalleryboston.com/gallery-events/

To order the book: https://raniamatar.com/books/where-do-i-go/

Feature Image: “Perla, Where Do I Go, Kfarmatta, Lebanon, 2021” from Where Do I Go? by Rania Matar, courtesy of the artist, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and Leica Gallery Boston.