A B O U T T H E A R T I S T
Using photography, testimony and archive, Diana Matar's in-depth bodies of work investigate themes of history, memory and state sponsored violence. Grounded in heavy research and often spending years on a project, Matar attempts to capture the invisible traces of human history and produces installations and books that query what role aesthetics might playin the depiction of power. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Matar has received the Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award for Fine Art; the International Fund for Documentary Photography; a Ford Foundation Grant for artists making work on history and memory; and twice been awarded an Arts Council of England Individual Artist Grant. Her work is held in public and private collections and has been exhibited in numerous institutions including Tate Modern, London; The National Museum of Singapore; Museum Folkswang, Essen, Germany; The Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and Musee de la Photographie a Charleroi. Her monograph Evidence was published in 2014 by Schilt Publishing Amsterdam to critical acclaim and chosen by New York Times Photography critic Teju Cole as one of two best photography books of the year. In 2019 Matar was appointed Distinguished Artist at Barnard College Columbia University, New York.
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Selected Exhibitions
Purdy HicksGallery, London. Diana Matar Tete a Tete. Solo Exhibition. 10 December 2020 - 16 January 2021. (Reopens according to current government guidelines on April 12th, 2021 .)
SFMOMA, San Francisco USA . My America showing in American Geography curated by Sandra Philipps. September 2020. (Delayed or Cancelled until further notice due to Covid 19) Group Exhibition.
Photo London May 13- 17 2020. Showing with Purdy Hicks Gallery. (Delayed until October 2020 due to Covid 19)
Musee de la Photographie a Charleroi, Charleroi Belgium. Diana Matar My America, January 25th - May 10th 2020. Solo Exhibition. (Extended until September 20th 2020, due to Covid 19)
Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago. Traversing the Past: Adam Golfer, Diana Matar, Hrvoje Slovenc. Jan - March 2018. Evidence, Witness, Disappearance, Still Far Away (3 person show)
Photo London May 17 - 21 2017, Showing with Purdy Hicks Gallery
London Art Fair Jan 17 - 20 2017, Showing with Purdy Hicks Gallery
PARIS PHOTO Nov 10 - 13, 2016. Showing with Purdy Hicks Gallery
Seoul Lunar Photo 16. Seoul, Korea. September 9 – 16, 2016.76 Evidence.
Purdy Hicks Gallery London, UK. May 12 - June 6 2016. Diana Matar Solo exhibition.
Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York USA. February 20 - April 10, 2016. Page by Page - The Photobook.
Photo London, May 19 - 22 2016. Showing with Purdy Hicks.
Fotofest International, Houston Texas, USA. March 12 - April 24 2016. Evidence.
Paris Photo. November 12 - 15 2015. Purdy Hicks Gallery. New Works.
The Institut du Monde Arabe et Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris. November 9, 2015 - January 17, 2016. Evidence in Biennale of Contemporary Photography from the Arab World.
Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, NY. 12 September - 24 October 2015. Solo exhibition Evidence.
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany. 31 July - 25 Oct. 2015. Evidence in Conflict Time Photography.
GoEun Museum of Photography, Busan Korea. 29 August - 25 November 2015. Evidence in Two Moons.
Banaki Museum, Athens Greece. June 3 - July 31 2015. Artist book Evidence in The Photobook Exibition.
Museum Folkswang Essen, Germany. 10 April - 5 July 2015. Evidence in Conflict Time Photography.
Tate Modern, London UK. 26 November 2014 - 15 March 2015. Evidence in Conflict, Time, Photography.
Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, USA, Feb 5 - March 3, 2015. Artist book Evidence in The Visual Voice: New Photo Book Narratives.
PARIS PHOTO 13 - 16 November 2014 Purdy Hicks Gallery. Works from Evidence.
Saatchi Gallery, 2010, London, UK. Disappearance. Photographic and sound installation in Borders.
Upper Waiting Hall, Houses of Parliament, London UK, 2008. Leave to Remain, National solo touring exhibition.
Teatr Laznia Nowa. Photo Month in Krakow, Krakow Poland, 2008. This Dark Land in Failure|Success.
Ghandi Museum, London, UK. 2008. Leave to Remain, National solo touring exhibition.
Lighthouse Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK. 2007. Leave to Remain, National solo touring exhibition.
National Museum of Singapore, 2007. Return of the Veil in Nazar Photographs from the Arab World.
Gallery of Photography, Temple Bar, Dublin Ireland, 2007. Return of the Veil in Nazar Photographs from the Arab World.
Fotographie Forum International, 2006, Frankfurt, Germany. Barzakh solo.
World Affairs Council, San Francisco, Ca. USA 2006. Return of the Veil in From Where I Stand.
Q Arts Gallery, Derby, UK, 2006. Return of the Veil in Nazar Photographs from the Arab World.
Space Four, Peterborough Museum, UK, 2006. Leave to Remain. National solo touring exhibition.
Lincoln Museum, Usher Gallery, 2006. Leave to Remain. National solo touring exhibition.
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, UK, 006. Leave to Remain. National solo touring exhibition.
BCA Gallery, UK. 2006. Leave to Remain. National solo touring exhibition.
Langhans Galerie Prag, Czech Republic, 2005. Return of the Veil in Nazar Photographs from the Arab World.
Noorderlicht Photofestival, Leeuwarden, Netherlands, 2004. Return of the Veil in Nazar Photographs from the Arab World.
Fifty Crows Gallery, San Francisco, Ca. USA, 2004. Return of the Veil in From Where I Stand.
Permanent Collections
Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
The Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago.
George Eastman Museum
The Deutsche Bank Permanent Collection.
The International Fund for Documentary Photography, USA.
The Bedford Museum
Santa Barbara Museum
Harry Ransom Center
The Charles Dee Mitchel Collection of Photography and Conflict in the 21st Century
Permanent Collection at Michigan State University.
Private Collections America, England, Germany, Mexico, France.
Selected Publications
PhotoLondon Magazine Diana Matar Issue 19 Autumn 2020 with essay by Devorah Baum.
Granta 152 Still Life. Granta Publishing. Tête-à-Tête essay and photographs by Diana Matar July 30th 2020.
Femmes PHOTOgrapes Issue 08. Witness by Diana Matar Summer 2020.
Granta 146 The Politics of Feeling. Granta Publishing. American Orchard by Diana Matar with introduction by Max Houghton. January 2019.
1001 Photographs You Must See Before you Die: Quintessence Editions, London. Editor Paul Lowe. September 2017
Firecrackers: Contemporary Female Photographers Now. Thames and Hudson, London. Autumn 2017. With essays by Max Hougton and Fiona Rogers.
Seoul Lunar Photo 16. Seoul Lunar Publishing, Korea. Edited by Sujong Song and Lee Jungmin. Autumn 2016.
FT Weekend Magazine What Your Eyes See
Portfolio with Essay by Hisham Matar
October 22/23 2016
City Of Lions - Pushkin Press
Joseph Wittlin, Philippe Sands, Portfolio by Diana Matar
November 2016
1ere Biennale des Photographies Du Monde Arabe: Histoire(s) Contemporaine(s)
Institute du Monde Arabe e Maison Européenne de la Photographie
November 2015
Edited by Claude Mollard et Jean-Luc Monterosso, directeur de la Maison Européenne de la Photographie
Photoworks Annual 22: Women
Photoworks
November 2015
Essay by Shoair Mavlian, curator at Tate Modern, London.
Two Moons
The GoEun Museum of Photography
September 2015
Edited by Sujong Song
Evidence, Monograph
Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam
November 2014.
Conflict Time Photography
Tate Publishing, London.
Simon Baker
November 2014.
New Yorker
The Return
April 2013.
Internazionalle
The Return
September, 2013.
Ojo de Pez
Still Far Away
Issue 35, Autobiografias
Edited by Liza Fakour and Arianna Renaldo
December 2013.
Source Photographic Review
What Do You Know
Issue 56 Autumn 2008
Edited by John Duncan
Nazar, Photographs from the Arab World
Aperture Publishing
Negar Azami, Isolde Brielmaier
September 2005
Nazar, Photographs from the Arab World
Aurora Borealis.
Wim Melis
2004
Seeking Asylum
BCA Gallery
Diana Matar, Colin Jacobson
2005
Education
MA with Distinction. Royal College of Art, Photography. London UK, 2008
BA San Francisco State University. Journalism. San Francisco, Ca. USA. 1996
Grants and Awards and Residencies
2021 Nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award
2019 Artists Residency. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.
2017 Short Listed Grand Prix Image Vevey for This Violent Land
2017 Nominated Tim Hetherington Grant
2016 Ford Foundation Individual Travel Grant for This Violent Land
2016 Nominated Deutsche Borse Prize
2016 Nominated for Prix Pictet
2015 Nominated for Prix Pictet
2014 Arts Council England. Individual Artist Grant.
2012 Finalist Critical Mass
2010 Arts Council England. Individual Artist Grant.
2010 Deutsche Bank commission for production and installation of Disappearance.
2010 Shortlisted for the Victoria and Albert Museum Residency/Photography Fellowship
2010 Nominated for Prix Pictet
2008 SHOWCASE, Blueprint Magazine.
2008 The Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award for Fine Art Photography
2008 Royal College of Art Travel Grant
2006 – 2008 Full Bursary, Royal College of Art MA Photography
2005 East England Grants for the Arts
2005 Comic Relief UK Arts Grants
2005 NHS Trust Grants for the Arts
2004 Commissions East
2003 Fifty Crows 1st place International Fund for Documentary Photography, North America
Talks, Lectures, Radio and TV
PhotoLondon Live. October 13th 2020 7pm BST. Diana Matar in Conversation with Makeda Best Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums.
Museo Archiologico Nazionale di Napoli, May 2nd 2019. Fuoriclassico Festival MANN. Spaces Without Bodies Diana Matar My America
Ned Hotel. Novemenbr 14, 2018 Women in Focus International Center of Photography and Rueters. Photography and Social Change: Diana Matar Presenting My America.
Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago Annual Lecture Series. January 24, 2018. Diana Matar
Imperial War Museum London, June 17, 2017. Art, Justice and Terror: With Edmund Clark, Fred Ritchin, Diana Matar.
Photo London. May 19, 2017. FT Weekend Presents: This Violent Land Diana Matar in conversation with Aaron Schumann
Ace Hotel. London. March 15 2017 State Violence Diana Matar in conversation with Max Houghton. A Photography and the Archive Research Centre(PARC) project
ACAVA ARTS London. Feb 16 2017. Diana Matar Landscape and Violence - photographing police violence in America in conversation with Antonio Olmos.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Sept 19 2016. The Task of Witnessing: A Symposium in Honor of James Foley.
Al Alwan Center for the Arts, New York City October 13th, 2015 Evidence Diana Matar
The GoEun Museum of Photography, Busan Korea. August 29, 2015 Evidence Diana Matar
Centre for Urban History of East Central Europe, Lviv Ukraine. April 30 2015. Evidence Diana Matar
Tate Modern, London. February 10 2015. Conflict, Time, Photography artists in conversation with Simon Baker. WIth Stephen Shore, Diana Matar Chloe Dewey Mathews, and Hrair Sarkissian.
Arts Club London. January 8 2015. Simon Baker Curator of Tate Modern in Conversation with Conflict Time Photography Artist Diana Matar.
ICP New York, NY. 2014 - Present. Personal Projects: History Photography and Memory.
Michigan State University Public Library. Artist Talk. Photography and Political Disappearance. East Lansing Michigan USA, September, 2014
The Disappeared; Page Turner Festival, Brooklyn, 2013
Photogrpahy and Spaces of Violence; Columbia University, NY NY, 2013
Dar El Fanoon, Artists Talk, Tripoli, Libya. 2012
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, NY NY 2004/2011
The World Affairs Council, USA
Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, Ca.
SF MOMA:World Press Panel on Documentary Photography This Critical Mirror
FiftyCrows Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.
Fundacion Cultural de Mexico, Mexico City and Baja California
San Francisco State University, USA
Cambridge Forum, UK,
Plymouth City Museum and Gallery, UK,
Plymouth University, UK
Cambridge School of Art at APU, UK
Ipswich College,UK
Usher Gallery, The Collection, Lincoln Museum, UK
BCA Gallery, UK
SF Camera Work, San Francisco, CA USA
Resounding Images, Plymouth, UK
Royal College of Art, Deutsche Bank Award Lecture, London, UK
The Art Academy SF, USA
Press and Reviews
Le Soir, March 10th, 2020, My America Morts sous les balles de la police. Jean-Marie Wyants
La Libre, February 12th, 2020, Que Fait La Police? My America Diana Matar, Jean Marc Bodsen
The Eye of Photography, February 1st, 2020. Charleroi:Diana Matar: My America
The Guardian, Maaza Mengiste January 29th, 2020. From Homer to Alexievich:top 10 books about the human cost of war. Diana Matar Evidence.
New City Art, AlisaSwindell, March 27th, 2018. Trauma In TheLongue Durée: A Review of “Traversing the Past” at the Museum of ContemporaryPhotography
Hyperallergic, ElenaGoukassian, February 28, 2018. A Compelling New Book Focuseson Work by 33 Women Photographers.
The Chicago Tribune, LaurieWaxman, January 31st 2018. 'Traversing the Past' anuneven but powerful look at history.
The Chicago Maroon, ZoeBean, January 22nd 2018. MoCP Exhibit PresentsThree Takes on Cultural Identity
Time Out Chicago. January 2018 Traversing the Past: Adam Golfer,Diana Matar, Hrvoje Slovenc
Harpers Bazaar Art, Simon Bowcock. Winter 2016. Diana Matar The Language of Trees.
London Photo Diary, Celine Bodin. June 5 2016 Review: Diana Matar @ Purdy Hicks Gallery
Photomonitor, Simon Bowcock. June 1 2016 Photo London 2016 Reviewed
The Economist 1843 Magazine, Felix Bazalgette, May 26 2016 Exposing Libya's Dark Past. Diana Matar at Purdy Hicks Gallery.
Financial Times, Horatia Herrod, May 13, 2016, Snapshot, Diana Matar at Purdy Hicks, London.
Lensculture, Evidence by Diana Matar, May 2016
Black and White Magazine. George Slade. April 8th 2016. Evidence by Diana Matar
L'Oeil, W. M. Hunt. April 4, 2016. The Unseen Eye Looks at FotoFest 2016.
The New Arab, January 15, 2016. The Arab World Mirrored in Photography.
L'HUMANITÉ, Magali Jauffret. January 5 2016. Les photographes du monde arabe accueillis à Paris
Culture Box. December 5th, 2015. Monde arabe et photographie à Paris : quelques images de la première biennale.
L’Eclectique. Sarah Anouar, November 12 2015. La première Biennale des photographes du monde arabe contemporain « démonte » les clichés.
RFI Siegfried Forster. November 11 2015. Le monde arabe pris en photo par une Biennale pionnière
Les Tempes. Caroline Stevan. November 27 2015. Une biennale de photographie pour le monde arabe
Wall Street Journal. Tobias Grey. November 6th 2015, Middle East Photography gets a Biennale.
Literate Lens, Sarah Coleman. October 12, 2015. Evidence by Diana Matar at Rick Wester Fine Art.
Collector Daily, Loring Knoblach. October 6 2015. Diana Matar Evidence at Rick Wester
L'Oeil, September 15 2015. New York: Evidence by Diana Matar.
PhotoDot, July 2015, Cover Portfolio Evidence by Diana Matar
Vice Magazine Volume 13, No 5. June 2015, Literary: Evidence, Diana Matar
PhotoEye, Jon Evans. 16 June 2015. Evidence Diana Matar Book of the Week, Pick by Jon Evans, Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Leica Foto International, May 2015, Angenda, Books: Diana Matar Evidence.
Freize Magazine, Sara Knelman. April 20 2015. Conflict Time Photography.
WDR 3. April 2015, Das Danach des Krieges. With Radio Show.
Firecracker. March 2015, Evidence Diana Matar.
ArtsLife, Laura Vezzo. March 2015. Conflict Time Photography Tate Modern riflette sulla guerra e i suoi effetti.
Emaho Magazine, Manik Katyal. March 2015. Diana Matar: Photography six years of Political Disappearance.
fotoMAGAZIN, Manfred Zolner. March 2015. Evidence, Diana Matar.
Creative Review, March 2015, IPAd edition. Hi-Res Feature: Evidence, Photographer Diana Matar explores political disappearance.
Kaliedascope Magazine, Anjalie Mandalia, February 2015. About Time
ST Art Magazine, Hettie O'Brian. January 2015. Landscape and Time.
L'Oeil 16, Jonas Cuenin. 16 January 2015, Londres : Conflict, Time, Photography : les images d’après la guerre.
Resource Magazine, Mark Go. 5 January 2015. Best Photography Books of 2015.
Tondo, Nathalie Latham. December 2014. Best Books. Diana Matar Evidence.
Dirty Old Books, Cheryl Newman. 28 December 2014. My Favorite Photobooks of 2014.
New Yorker, Teju Cole. 23 December 2014. Best Books of 2014
The Telegraph, Cheryl Newmann. 22 December 2014. My Favorite Photobooks of 2014
National Public Radio WNYC Colin Dywer and Martha Ann Overland. 22 December 2014. Flipping Ahead - Book News. Diana Matar's Evidence.
De Groene Amsterdammer. December 2014. Moderne tijden in Tate Modern en het Rijksmuseum.
Cultframe Arti Visivi, Claudia Colia, December 2014. Conflict, Time, Photography. Una mostra alla Tate Modern di Londra
Felix Online, Fred Fyles, December 2014. An Excavation of the Bloody Horrors of Warfare
Photobookstore Magazine, Yumi Goto. 23 December 2014. Yumi Goto's Favorite Photobooks of 2014.
The Independent, Annalee Mather. 22 December 2014. Books of the Year 2014: Best Photography Books.
Peace Direct, Jasmine Mitchell. December 2014. Conflict Time and Photography.
Firecracker, December 2014, Shoair Mavlian. Women Photographers in Conflict Time Photography.
Artefact Magazine, Sebastian Moss. 1 December 2014, Exhibitions, Conflict Time Photography.
El Confidencial, Barabara Celis Londres. November 2014. Fotografia de Guerra Sin Heroes ni Sangre.
BBC World Service, 29 November 2014, Newshour Interview with Razia Iqbal, Diana Matar Photographing Libya's Disappeared.
Time Out London, Freire Barnes. 28 November 2014. Conflict, Time, Photography
The Economist, 1843 Magazine, Simon Willis. 28 November 2014. War's Half Life at Tate Modern.
The Guardian, Hannah Ellis Peterson. 25 November 2014. Conflict, Time, Photography at Tate Modern sets timestamp on tragedy.
Disphotic, Lewis Bush. 24 November 2014. REVIEW – EVIDENCE BY DIANA MATAR
The Guardian, Sean O'Hagan. 12 November 2014 'The cruelty is in everything': photographing the dead and the disappeared of Gaddafi's Libya.
The Culture Trip, Ludy Andia, November 2014. Diana Matar, The Aesthetics of Loss.
Tate Etc Issue 32. Ipad Edition. Autumn 2014. Conflict Time Photography.
Middle East Monitor, Amelia Smith. 22 October 2014 Photographer Diana Matar on Libya, her father-in-law's disappearance and portraying absence in her work.
New Yorker PhotoBooth. Elissa Curtis. March 26, 2013 Return to Libya One Families Journey. PhotoBooth