Photographer Rania Matar’s practice focuses on portraying girls and young women as they see themselves. To that end, she encourages them to have a say in their pose, clothes, accessories and surroundings. In this print Alae, a college student from a conservative Muslim family and Matar’s most-photographed model, poses on a sandbar in Beirut. Enveloped in a black abaya, Alae takes center stage, creatively posing herself while extending a piece of black cloth behind her for an added dramatic effect. Matar recalls, “I went to her Instagram which said, ‘Don’t follow me—I’m toxic.’ That was brilliant. She told me she wears the abaya to keep her family off her back. As long as she wears it, she is free to do whatever she wants.” Born in Beirut to a Palestinian family, Matar moved to the United States in 1984 during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90). Originally trained as an architect, she shifted to photography after the September 11 attacks with the intent to counter negative stereotypes about the Middle East. Primarily photographing girls and women in the United States and Lebanon, her work highlights shared commonalities across cultural lines.