In the new photobook Where Do I Go?, photographer Rania Matar brings together around 128 color portraits of young women living in Lebanon today, creating a visual narrative that moves through identity, belonging, and uncertainty. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War, the book looks at a country still marked by decades of instability, while deliberately shifting the focus away from destruction to center resilience, creativity, and dignity.
The title comes from graffiti found on an abandoned wall — Where do I go? — a question that runs through the entire project and reflects the dilemma shared by many of its protagonists: whether to stay or leave.
The project began when Matar returned to Beirut after the 2020 port explosion and started working with women from across the country. Having left Lebanon herself at the age of twenty, the artist recognizes in her subjects a familiar condition: that of having to decide whether to build a future elsewhere or remain. The portraits emerge from a collaborative process: the participants choose the locations and the terms of their representation, turning the photographs into a space of self-determination.
From the Mediterranean coast to the mountains of Mount Lebanon, passing through urban neighborhoods and border areas, the landscape becomes an integral part of the narrative. Abandoned villas, shuttered theaters, and conflict-scarred architecture alternate with open fields and mountain views, creating a visual tension between memory and possibility. In Where Do I Go?, place is not a backdrop, but an extension of the inner dimension of its subjects, balanced between strength and vulnerability.
The photobook is accompanied by the exhibition Rania Matar: Where Do I Go?, لوين روح؟, on view through August 2, 2026, at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art in Bloomington, United States. The volume includes essays by Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert, Mariah R. Keller, Youmna Melhem Chamieh, Kim Ghattas, and Georges Boustany, which expand the project through personal and historical reflections.
Rooted in the Lebanese context yet capable of speaking to everyone, Where Do I Go? addresses universal themes such as belonging, migration, and female identity. At a time when women from the region are often reduced to symbols of vulnerability, Matar restores complexity and presence, building a visual narrative that becomes both document and possibility.
