Paths of Hope: Lebanon’s Young Women Redefine Their Future

Photographer Rania Matar discusses her Beirut-based project and new book Where Do I Go?, a long-running portrait series of Lebanese women navigating stay-or-leave choices amid ongoing turmoil—from the Beirut port explosion to economic collapse. The interview highlights collaboration, consent, and the women’s own stories, with Matar guiding final images while letting subjects define the frame. By foregrounding resilience and memory over sensational destruction, the work argues that the most enduring narratives are those of the people who continue to live and create, including Matar’s own history of leaving Lebanon in 1984.