SELECTED WORK
Investigations, film and public work.
Reference pages with a short introduction, Matar’s role and links to the original work and its context.
Sednaya: investigation and exhibition
An investigation and exhibition connecting the architecture of Sednaya to survivor testimony, documents and the history of detention. Developed collectively by the Prisons Museum with researchers, archivists, architects, filmmakers and survivors.
Founder and director, Prisons Museum; research and editorial leadership
Branch 215 — The Raid Team
A collective research dossier on Branch 215 of Military Intelligence, bringing together documents, filmed testimony and a spatial reconstruction. It examines detention and interrogation, institutional records and the handling of prisoners who died at the branch.
Investigative and editorial direction, Syria Prisons Museum
Under Surveillance: My File at Branch 215
A live reading of Amer Matar’s personal security file. Surveillance reports, intercepted calls and detention records are read alongside his account of the people and events reduced to entries in a security archive. Presented at Pavillon Hannover on 5 September 2026.
Text, reading and documentary performanceSmuggling 23 Minutes of a Revolution
A 23-minute documentary filmed in Hama in June 2011. The film records the early Syrian uprising and events in the city before the army’s entry. Broadcast on Al Arabiya and shown at film festivals.
Direction
Three Walls: Spatial Narratives of Old Mosul
The Prisons Museum’s first physical exhibition, presented at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in November 2024. Architectural reconstructions, testimony and historical research examine sites in Old Mosul and their transformation under ISIS.
Prisons Museum project and research leadership