Rania Matar, the photographer of our current Remis Lobby exhibit, visited campus yesterday, April 16 to speak to students about her work. Matar's landmark series, "A Girl and Her Room", has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. The 2018 Guggenheim Fellow's landmark series is comprised of environmental portraits of teenage girls in the United States and the Middle East. Her images are in the permanent collections of several museums worldwide.
Photography teacher David Oxton expressed how grateful he was to feature Matar's work at Governor's. "Matar's exhibit has traveled all over the world. I was amazed when she agreed to exhibit fourteen of her photos here at Govs. Now, everyone at Govs - not just photo students - have a chance to study, confront, and appreciate her remarkable depictions of young women," he said.
Oxton has been showing Matar's work in his photo classes, he said, and the response has been strong. "Students love all the details in the photos that reveal the personalities of the young women. They appreciate Matar's sense of composition and her ability to put her subjects at ease. Students feel that her portrayals of young women are authentic and compassionate."
Matar spoke to classes during two different blocks in the Remis Lobby. She showed many of the images from the series on exhibit- "A Girl and Her Room", and also showed students some of her other work. Students asked questions throughout her presentation, ranging from her artistic process to how she finds subjects for her photos.
To learn more about Matar and her work, click here.