Barely two weeks after the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, Lebanese-born American photographer Rania Matar began contemplating how this new, universal human reality might be viewed through a photographic lens. The resulting series, On Either Side of the Window: Portraits During Covid-19, will be exhibited at Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Florida from 16 January.
What began as a series of the artist’s friends at home soon became a community-wide project in which Matar captured portraits of more than 100 people in Massachusetts who agreed to pose for her. She photographed figures behind doors and windows, capturing the intimacy, beauty, anxiety and rhythm of daily life in quarantine. It’s a series of conflicting themes: interior and exterior; solitude and community; reality and artificiality; uncertainty and monotony.
Rania Matar, Minty, Kayla, Leyah, Layla, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2020. Image courtesy of the Artist
Matar’s work delves into the duality of personal and shared identity. These themes are often transported through powerful photographs of female adolescence and womanhood, both in the United States where she is based and in her native Middle East.
The exhibition brings together a selection of 27 new works, each narrating a nuanced story of individuality, collectivity and connectivity during extraordinary times.
Rania Matar, Cyrus, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2020. 'Cyrus identifies as non-binary, Queer and Persian-American. I loved how he stood in his red shirt that matched the red flowers outside. He had balloons inside celebrating his birthday and Pride week,' says Matar. Image Courtesy of the Artist
‘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,’ says Matar. ‘This virus is such an equaliser, making us all re-evaluate our shared humanity, our fragility, and our priorities.’
Matar’s series captures an era in which our domestic spaces have become both sanctuary and prison. Her subjects, like many of us, are existing on the periphery of a world – one to look at, but not to touch. Symbolism is carried through the window itself: a transparent barrier that protects and inhibits; a tool to frame, reflect and shield. Most poignantly, the series captures the striking variety that can emerge from a universally lived experience.
Rania Matar, Lucy, Boston, Massachusetts, 2020. 'Kids were all home during the early days of Covid-19 and the lockdown. Families were at home together, with kids being homeschooled and parents working from home and playing teachers, Matar explains. 'It was important for me in this project to include families, kids, and a variety of age groups as we were all in this together'. Image Courtesy of the Artist.
Rania Matar, Linda, Watertown, Massachusetts, 2020. Image courtesy of the Artist
INFORMATION
Rania Matar 'On Either Side of the Window: Portraits During Covid-19', 16 January – 9 May 2021, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Florida.
rollins.edu/cornell-fine-arts-museum
ADDRESS
Cornell Fine Arts Museum
1000 Holt Ave
Winter Park, FL 32789
-
Frank Traynor makes everyday objects extraordinaryFrank Traynor’s ‘A Can Opener of Myself’ – a ‘maximalist, minimalist contradiction’ of adorned objects – is at The Future Perfect, New York (until 31 December 2023)
-
New M&C Saatchi Berlin office interiors embrace bold colour
Llot Llov’s M&C Saatchi Berlin office interiors bring a shot of colour to their brutalist setting
-
Comme Si’s first store in Brooklyn is a design lover’s temple to socks
Sock and loungewear brand Comme Si launches a temporary Brooklyn store, a rich and inviting space created with designers Elias Studio, John Sohn and Yoonjee Kwak
-
Sheila Metzner’s jewel-toned fashion photography goes on show in Los Angeles
‘Sheila Metzner: From Life’ is at the Getty Center until 18 February 2024, including her richly toned fashion photography and still lifes; the artist tells us more
-
Takashi Murakami on his monsterizing San Francisco show
Takashi Murakami tells us of pandemic-inspired creatures, eye-popping flowers, and NFTs as he explains the making of his exhibition at Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
-
How to conquer the Atomic City: the story behind U2 at the new Las Vegas Sphere
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere redefines the 21st-century rock concert. We spoke to the band and its team about the genesis of this expansive art and music experience that marks the opening of the high-tech venue
-
Ceramicist Jonathan Cross on crafting art from desert materials in the Mojave
Jonathan Cross’ flourishing practice incorporates local sand and stones from his base on the edge of Joshua Tree to create minimalist works with a unique patina
-
Ken Gun Min’s mixed-media montages reframe cultural influences and queer identity
South Korean-born, LA-based Ken Gun Min illusively combines painting, embroidery and illustration
-
Jack Pierson’s photographs and sculptures go on show in New York
Artist Jack Pierson draws on life experiences for a new show, ‘Pomegranates’, at Lisson Gallery, New York
-
TikTok gets tangible: artist Devon Rodriguez opens his first exhibition, in New York
Devon Rodriguez, who until now has reserved his work for his 31 million TikTok followers, has opened his first exhibition at UTA Artist Space’s pop-up gallery in Chelsea, New York
-
Man Ray’s sculptures go on show in New York
‘Man Ray: Other Objects’ opens at Luxembourg + Co, New York, revealing their author’s ‘artistic revolution’
