Bio
In her professional life, Lama Mattar is a PhD holder and University Professor in Nutrition. Alongside her academic and research career, Lama is a passionate photographer and has been immersed in the world of arts as she has been painting since a very young age. Lama developed a growing interest in photography a few years ago and has been honing her skills through a mix of self-teaching, seminars and workshops in Paris, Monaco and Beirut.
The beauty, the power and the grace of the human body fascinate Lama. She has been highlighting it in her photography as a valuable object of art in various surroundings.
Her main focus is nonetheless on identity, social belonging and stereotype. She is constantly working on portraiture studies of marginalised individuals in their own environments. She is in constant search for diverse profiles of people to portray in their intimacy. In one frame, her photos tell infinite stories about the person’s social identity, life, environment and character. Lama believes that by showing distinctively people’s inner circle she would break the stereotype built around appearances and fight the stigmatisation that certain people suffer from.
Awards
Second Prize PHOTOMED LIBAN (January 2016)
Finalist at the Byblos Bank Award for Photography (September 2015)
Exhibitions
Institut Français, Lebanon (September 2016)
Beirut Art Fair, Lebanon (September 2016)
Beirut Art Fair, Lebanon (September 2015)