Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Mona Hatoum (1952) is a Palestinian multimedia and installation artist. Born in Beirut to Palestinian parents, Hatoum was not eligible for a Lebanese Identification Card. After drawing throughout her childhood, she studied graphic design at Beirut university College for two years. In 1975, civil war began in Lebanon while Hatoum was in London, and she was unable to return to Beirut.
From 1975 to 1981, Hatoum trained at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art.
Her art focuses on juxtapositions and contradictions, exploring themes of human struggle in conflict and displacement. Her early work highlighted individual vulnerability within violent institutional structures. Her 1988 video piece Measures of Distance underscores the physical and emotional separations imposed by wars in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as challenges stereotypes of Arab women.
Hatoum's solo exhibitions include: Centre Pompidou, Paris (1994), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1997), The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1998), Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1999), Tate Britain, London (2000), Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Magasin 3, Stockholm (2004) and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2005), Parasol Unit, London (2008), Darat Al Funun, Jordan (2008), Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (2009), Beirut Art Center (2010), and the Menil Collection (2017). The Tate Modern gallery of London held a comprehensive history of her work, including performances, ideos, sculptures, and installations, in 2016. In 2015, she was awarded the 10th Hiroshima Art Prize.