“On Either Side of the Window (Portraits during COVID-19)”

Exhaustion and perseverance suffuse Rania Matar’s portrait Minty, Kayla, Leyah, and Layla, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Shortly after the pandemic lock- down started in Boston, Matar put out a call on social media, asking if anyone would like to be photographed at their window. Over one hundred people answered, and she made her way around the greater Boston area to document the impact of the pandemic on those living under the same roof.

Minty, Kayla, Leyah, and Layla posed for Matar in April 2020, all sharing a space behind a green window frame. Three of the four figures engage directly with Matar and her camera, while one young girl on the right stares into the distance from behind the closed window. Their poses unwittingly disclose the impact of the pandemic on different generations, evoking tedium and frustration as well as intimacy.

Rania Matar (born 1964, Beirut, Lebanon) Currently resides in Brookline, Massachusetts Inkjet print, 2020
Collection of the artist, courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery, Boston