A Girl and Her Room

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Rania Matar, at one of those goofy travel team soccer try-outs for 7th and 8th grade girls that we have in Brookline.  Among the hubbub of pre-teen nerves, squeals, and soccer balls, she was a true delight. We chatted briefly, she showed me some of her work on her iphone and then I checked out her website.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I was so moved by the way she captures her subjects.  All that quiet, thoughtful angst, self-absorption, reflection, uncertainty, fear, and confidence collected in one incredible picture.

See what I mean?

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

image | rania matar

From her website:

This project is about teenage girls and young women at a transitional time of their lives, alone in the privacy of their own personal space and surroundings: their bedroom, a womb within the outside world.

"As a mother of a teenage daughter I watch her passage from girlhood into adulthood, fascinated with the transformation taking place, the adult personality shaping up and a self-consciousness now replacing the carefree world she had known and lived in so far. I started photographing her and her girlfriends, and quickly realized that they were very aware of each other's presence, and that their being in a group affected very much whom they were portraying to the world. From there, emerged the idea of photographing each girl alone in her personal space.

I spend time with each girl, so she is comfortable with me and eventually the photography session becomes a beautiful and intimate collaboration. I was discovering a person on the cusp on becoming an adult, but desperately holding on to the child she barely outgrew, a person on the edge between two worlds, trying to come to terms with this transitional time in her life and adjust to the person she is turning into. Posters of rock stars, political leaders or top models were displayed above a bed covered with stuffed animals; mirrors were an important part of the room, a reflection of the girls' image to the world; personal objects, photos, clothes everywhere, chaotic jumbles of pink and black make-up and just stuff, seemed to give a sense of security and warmth to the room like a womb within the outside world.

I initially started this work focusing on teenage girls in the United States and eventually expanded the project to include girls from the two worlds I am most familiar with, the two worlds I experienced myself as a teen and a young twenty year old: the United States and the Middle East. This is how this project became very personal to me. I became fascinated with the similar issues girls at that age face, regardless of culture, religion and background, as they learn to deal with all the pressures that arise as they become consciously aware of the surrounding world wherever this may be.

Being with those young women in the privacy of their world gave me a unique peek into their private lives and their real selves. They sense that I am not judging them and become an active part of the project. I just follow their lead. I thank every one of them for their trust and precious collaboration."

                                                                                                                                      -Rania Matar