Rania Matar
On Either Side of the Window
Rania Matar
Feb 2 – May 9, 2021
Cornell Fine Arts Museum / Online

Responding to her need to connect with others, Rania Matar captures the nuances of specific individuals while in quarantine, her subjects photographed through a door or window, connecting across barriers. In the spring of 2020, our lives were drastically changed by the pandemic. The effects of this public health crisis were rapidly felt on all levels of society – the economy, education, travel, work. Routines changed as entire cities implemented stay at home orders. The experience of indoor and outdoor space quickly changed for people around the world. This exhibition presents new works by Lebanese American photographer Rania Matar (b. 1964) whose practice investigates personal and collective identity.

These works encourage the viewer to reflect on how we relate to each other. As Matar explains, “It feels as if the news is always dividing us as “them v/s us”, and now here we are a “we”: all in this together, in the same boat, with life at a standstill and reduced to the confinement of home. This virus is such an equalizer, making us all re-evaluate our shared humanity, our fragility, and our priorities.”

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