On Exhibit

11EZRania Matar

The Middle East through women’s eyesT

he 10 Arab and Iranianphotographers featured
in “Louder Than Hearts”
at the Middle East Institute’s gallery are not only all
women, but their subjects arealmost entirely female as well.
This emphasis feels fitting for thefirst exhibition curated by Rania
Matar, a photographer known forher nuanced, intimate portraits
of women and girls in the Middle
East and the United States.
The Boston-based Matar, aGuggenheim Fellowship recipient who has been widely displayed in museums, including
D.C.’s National Museum of Women in the Arts, was also invited toResonant show features 10 female photographers
include her own work in theshow.
It opens with six photos fromher series “Where Do I Go? FiftyYears Later” commemorating theLebanese civil war, which began
in 1975. Matar — who was born in
Lebanon to Palestinian parents
and came to the United States atage 20, during the war — photographed young women who left
the country in recent years amid
its economic crisis and the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut port
explosion.
“I almost look at them as selfportraits of my younger self,”
Matar said in an interview inWashington after the show
opened. “I know exactly how
they’re feeling, what they have toface — the choice to leave everything they have known.” (Visitors
can scan a QR code for a 10-minute curator walk-through to hear
Matar in her own words.)
The women in her photos seem
calm and at peace, even defiant,
despite the disorder and dysfunction around them. Matar collaborated with her subjects, capturing
each in a spot in Lebanon towhich they had a personal connection, in portraits that arestaged without feeling contrived.
One sits in the flower-strewn car-cass of her car, which was burned
during anti-government protests;
another appears with her eyes
closed, basking in the sun, as she
sits in a red armchair surroundedby broken glass on an unfinishedbuilding terrace, an unspoiled
view of the Mediterranean behind her.
On the adjacent wall, an installation of five photos and shortphrases by Thana Faroq, from her
series “How Shall We Greet theSun,” provides a stark juxtaposition with Matar’s vibrant explosions of color. The Yemeni-born,
Hague-based artist’s portrayals offemale refugees in the Netherlands are shot in wintry browns
and grays. It’s as if the color of thesee Louder on 12

If you go
Louder Than Hearts:
Women Photographers
From the Arab World andIran
Middle East Institute Art Gallery,
1763 N St. NW. 202-785-1141.
mei.edu.
Dates: Through Oct. 4.
Prices: Free.

Rania Matar’s “Farah (In Her
Burnt Car), Abey, Lebanon”(2020), from the “Where Do I
Go? Fifty Years Later” series.
The subject’s car burned duringanti-government protests.

the washington post . friday, may 31, 2024

BY V ANESSA H . L ARSON

12EZOn Exhibit

the washington post . friday, may 31, 2024

Louder from 11

refugees’ previous lives has been
bleached out, emphasizing theloss of exile.
Matar, who began preparing
the show in the fall, highlights
Palestinian artists or subjects inseveral selections, with a deliberate emphasis on hopeful moments in Palestinian life. Particularly strong are five photos byTanya Habjouqa, a Jordanianborn photographer living in East
Jerusalem whose journalistic
work has been published by TheWashington Post.
In one image from 2013, agroup of about 10 young womentake a school field trip on a small
motorboat off the Gaza coast,laughing and smiling with theboatman as a Palestinian flag
flutters in the breeze. Behind thecarefree ambiance are sober realities: The boat ride is the rare
chance for the students to leave
the enclave.
Safaa Khatib’s 2018 series “TheBraids Rebellion” tells a real-lifestory of underage female Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli prison who cut off their hair and in2017 had it smuggled out to donate to cancer patients as an actof bodily resistance. Khatib, aPalestinian artist from the Galilee
village of Kafr Kanna in Israel,
photographed each of the unnamed women’s braids, tied withpink ribbons, against a black
background. A QR code links toaudio of Arabic-language messages the prisoners’ family members
sent them via a radio program(with an English-language transcript).
Almost all the works are portraits of a kind, even if some, likethe braids, are more symbolic. In
depicting the Kurdish-led Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) innorthern Syria who helped routthe Islamic State, Iranian artist
Newsha Tavakolian underscores
their sacrifices: A 17-year-old
fighter killed in the battle for
Kobane is represented by a colorful scarf spread on the floor — thesole personal effect that was returned to her family after herdeath.
Two very different shots ofwomen from the knees down convey startlingly different moods.
Saudi American photographer
Tasneem Alsultan — who like
Habjouqa has also contributed toThe Post — captures the excitement of a bride as she lifts up hervoluminous wedding dress to reveal her hennaed ankles. In contrast, Heba Khalifa of Egypt offers
perhaps the exhibition’s most unsettling image: “Cactus” shows awoman’s lower legs covered withpins and needles, highlighting
body issues and social restrictions placed on women.
Many of the exhibition’s subjects appear to have chosen how
to present themselves. Shiva Kh-Tasneem Alsultan

Saudi American photographer Tasneem Alsultan’s “Diversity Within Saudi Weddings,” from the “Saudi Tales of Love” series (2015ongoing). She is among 10 Arab and Iranian photographers featured in “Louder Than Hearts” at the Middle East Institute’s gallery.

Tanya Habjouqa/NOORABOVE: Tanya Habjouqa, “Inner Resistance, Occupied West Bank,Za’tara” (2013), from the “Occupied Pleasures” series. RIGHT:
Safaa Khatib, “The Braids Rebellion” (2018), depicting some of thehair that young Palestinian prisoners cut off and had smuggled out.

ademi’s portraits of a half-dozen
young women in Iran, who pose
without hijabs, their hair dyed ina variety of colors, are paired withquotes about their choice of appearance. Although they look likethey could easily have been taken
during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement that began in late 2022, all in fact date to2019.

For Matar, the focus mainly on
positive portrayals was intentional. “I feel like very often when we
define the area, it’s all about war,and despair and catastrophes,and this is when it’s in the news,”
she said. “So for me to makesomething beautiful, about women, about humanity, about resilience … it felt like it couldn’t be abetter time.”

Safaa Khatib