Mona Hatoum
"Often the work is about conflict and contradiction – and that conflict or contradiction can be within the actual object."
Measures of Distance 1988
Video, projection, colour and sound (mono)
This is a video constructed from images of Hatoum’s mother in the shower of the family home in Beirut. The Arabic writing overlaying these images like a curtain or veil represents her mother’s letters from Beirut to the artist in London. The soundtrack consists of an animated conversation between Hatoum and her mother overlaid with Hatoum’s voice reading a translation of the letters into English. For Hatoum, as much as the work portrays the emotional intimacy of the relationship between mother and daughter, ‘it also speaks of exile, displacement, disorientation and a tremendous sense of loss as a result of the separation caused by war.
Although the main thing that comes across is a very close and emotional relationship between mother and daughter, it also speaks of exile, displacement, disorientation and a tremendous sense of loss as a result of the separation caused by war. In this work I was also trying to go against the fixed identity that is usually implied in the stereotype of Arab woman as passive, mother as non-sexual being the work is constructed visually in such a way that every frame speaks of literal closeness and implied distance.
(Quoted in Mona Hatoum 1997, p.140).
Remains (chair) 2017
Wire mesh and wood
She has increasingly created large-scale installations that aim to engage the viewer in conflicting emotions of desire and revulsion, fear and fascination.
In her sculptures, Hatoum transforms familiar, every-day items such as chairs, cots and kitchen utensils into works that seem foreign, dangerous or even threatening.
My reflection:
There are comments saying "The power of Hatoum’s work is her ability to transcend local and personal issues and make them universal", I really agree with that. Her works can start from her own background and experience and expand to the resonance of a wide range of people, which is worth learning for me.
Metal elements often appear in her work, with lots of sharp, edgy visuals, which do a great job of showing emotions like conflict and fear. This is also a part worth learning from.
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