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b. 1952, Lebanon

Mona Hatoum Biography

Born into a Palestinian family in Beirut, Mona Hatoum was forced into exile due to the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in 1975. She has lived in London ever since. Through her poetic and radical oeuvre, Hatoum explores themes of home and displacement, gender and differences, and exposes the contradictions and conflicts of our world.

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Hatoum started her career in the 1980s making performance and video works. These early works are ostensibly political, often with direct references to the political turmoil in Palestine and her own background. In some performance pieces, she made political statements by putting the vulnerable human body in confrontation with violent institutional power structures. One of the most iconic works from this period is Measures of Distance (1988): a video constructed from intimate images of Hatoum's mother showering. In the video, Hatoum overlaid these images with handwritten Arabic letters from her mother—who was living in Beirut while she was living in London—and Hatoum also reads the letters aloud in English. This autobiographical work speaks of the displacement and tremendous sense of loss that results from the separation caused by war.

Since the late 1980s, Hatoum's practice has shifted increasingly towards large-scale installations and sculptures that aim to engage the viewer in conflicting emotions of desire and revulsion, fear and fascination. She has created a number of works by transforming everyday domestic objects into things with uncanny and threatening qualities. Metal grid structures, geometrical forms and wires are repeatedly used as motifs to recall a sense of oppression and containment brought about by systems of control within a society.

Hatoum has participated in numerous important prizes and events, including the Turner Prize (1995), the Venice Biennale (1995, 2005 and 2013), documenta11 and documenta14 (2002 and 2017), the Biennale of Sydney (2006), the Istanbul Biennial (1995 and 2011), the Sharjah Biennial (2007) and the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2013). In 2015, a major retrospective of Hatoum's work was organised and presented by the Centre Pompidou, Paris. This retrospective also travelled to Tate Modern, London, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki.

Sophia Bingqin Cao | Ocula | 2017

Mona Hatoum
featured artworks

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Remains (chair) VI by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture
Mona Hatoum Remains (chair) VI, 2020 Wire mesh and wood
84.5 x 41.5 x 41 cm
Galerie Chantal Crousel Contact Gallery
Untitled (fence, black) II by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork print
Mona Hatoum Untitled (fence, black) II, 2018 Lithograph on Velin D'Arches paper
40.5 x 31 cm
Asia Art Archive
Inside Out (concrete) by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture
Mona Hatoum Inside Out (concrete), 2019 Concrete and resin
86 x 86 x 86 cm
White Cube Contact Gallery
Triangulation by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture
Mona Hatoum Triangulation, 2022 Glass beads, wire, and leather
11 x 57 x 60 cm
White Cube Contact Gallery
Cappello per due by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture
Mona Hatoum Cappello per due, 2013 Straw, wood and steel
83 x 90.5 x 48 cm
Winsing Art Place
Crate III by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture
Mona Hatoum Crate III, 2016 Mild steel and hand-blown glass
24.5 x 42 x 28.5 cm
White Cube Contact Gallery
Untitled (display case) by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture
Mona Hatoum Untitled (display case), 2021 Glass, wood and velvet
72.5 x 43.5 x 43.5 cm
White Cube Contact Gallery
Map (clear) by Mona Hatoum contemporary artwork sculpture, installation
Mona Hatoum Map (clear), 2015 Clear glass marbles
1000 x 1800 cm
He Art Museum
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Mona Hatoum
recent exhibitions

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Mona Hatoum
represented by

White Cube contemporary art gallery in Bermondsey, London, United Kingdom
White Cube Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris, West Palm Beach
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Mona Hatoum
in Ocula Magazine

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Mona Hatoum
in Ocula Advisory

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