Alae (with the mirror), Beirut, Lebanon
Rania Matar, American (born in Lebanon), born 1964
2020
Archival pigment print
1/8
Sheet: 19 3/16 × 24 in. (48.8 × 61 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Edward, Julia, Victoria, and Christopher Hansen Fund for Photographic Acquisitions and the Olivia H. Parker and John O. Parker '58 Acquisition Fund
© Rania Matar
2022.45.2
Portfolio / Series Title
SHE
Geography
Place Imaged: Beirut, Eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon, West Asia, Asia
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Label
Reflected in a mirror, Alae looks out over the Bay of Beirut, apparently contemplating her future. Between Alae, the serene blue sky, and the bay in the distance stands a storage building that still shows damage from an explosion in 2020. Resulting from government mismanagement of dangerous chemical storage, the blast led to the death of over 600 people. Alae is a devout but modern young woman who, according to the artist, is questioning whether her connection to the land of Lebanon and her sense of being Lebanese is enough in the face of state violence.
From the 2025 exhibition Visual Kinship, curated by Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography, Dr. Kimberly Juanita Brown, Dr. Thy Phu and Dr. Iyko Day
Course History
Writing Program 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023
Writing Program 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023
Art History 48.02, Histories of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Spring 2024
Studio Art 76.02, Senior Seminar I, Tricia Treacy, Winter 2025
English 39.01, American Fiction: 1950-1990, Kimberly Brown, Winter 2025
College Course 26.01, What’s in Your Toolbox?, Casey Aldrich and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2025
Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies 65.07, Queer Popular Culture, Eng-Beng Lim, Fall 2025
Exhibition History
Visual Kinship, Lathrop, Jaffe and Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30 - November 29, 2025.
Provenance
Obscura Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico; sold to present collection, 2022.
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