Mona M. Mona Hatoum's work focuses on social contradictions, such as the suffering or political oppression of people forced to leave their homeland, which are also based on her personal experience as a Palestinian in exile. Mona M. Haturm was born in the Palestinian city of Beirut in 1952. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, Hathum was in London, and because he could not return to China, he was admitted to the Art Institute in London, and since then he has become a British national, living and creating in Britain.
> Electrified (variable II), 2014, kitchen utensils, furniture, wires, light bulbs, transformers, variable size
In his early years, Hathrom explored political and social identity issues through performance art and photography and video. Some works express individuals who are violent and threatened directly with physical participation; symbolic and minimalist forms of collective pain caused by war or other social causes.
Beginning in the 1990s, she began to create more sculptures and large-scale installations. The diversified creation also includes painting on paper, video, performance art, dynamic art, minimalism and conceptual art, presenting the weakness and tenacity of human nature in a complex world, making the audience confused, questioning, and dialogue with the fickle world.
> Shift, 2012, wool, 150 × 260 cm
Haturm has been shortlisted for several major art awards, including the Turner Prize in 1995, the Joan Miró Prize in 2011 and the 10th (2015) Hiroshima Art Prize in 2017.
The Hiroshima Art Prize recognizes the achievements of artists who have made the greatest contribution to human peace in the field of fine arts, and through art has spread the "Hiroshima Spirit" of praying for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and the maintenance of permanent peace in the world to the whole world. The Hiroshima Art Prize gave her the reason for the award: her hard work is in line with the spirit advocated by the Hiroshima Art Prize.
> Remains (chair), 2017, 82 × 41.5 × 45 cm
> Untitled (wheelchair II), 1999, stainless steel, rubber, 94.5 × 48.5 × 63.5 cm
Mona Haturm's work exposes global identity with conflict and contradiction, challenging the formal language of minimalism and surrealism, and throughout the 40 years of her creative career is poetic and radical ideas. Maps are an important thread in the context of Hathum's creations, and continue to appear in his works. Including world maps, maps of Palestine, aircraft routes, etc. These maps became symbolic symbols of unstable borders, transnational negotiations, and political conflicts in Hathom's work.
Hatum also often used furniture and common household materials, and kitchen knives, screens, and wires were appropriated and transformed by her, creating a strange and hostile atmosphere. She is influenced by minimalism, dynamics and conceptual art, and her work is at the same time surrealist. She has an astonishing ability to uncover the mysterious dimensions of everyday life that break down cultural differences. Simple materials, ornate forms, and certain metaphorical situations created by the combination of the two run through the exhibition, dramatically creating a contradiction and effectively stimulating the visitor's imagination.
> Exhibition site
Mona Hatoum's masterpiece, Grenade, makes it easy to associate it with Hathum's native Palestine, where war is raging even now. Although the female artist has been living in London and Berlin for a long time, her work has touched more on the plight of her distant compatriots, and many of her works have a background of war and injury. Hathrom was once seen as a looser member of the "Young British Artists" (YBA) community. She also participated in the controversial "Sensation" exhibition in 1997. Remember when the most striking figure in the YBA was damien Hurst, the art star of today, and Hathum was more labeled as a Palestinian female artist. What's more, her style is always changing, and her creations are more about her personal experiences and personal lives.
> Roadworks, 1985, performance material
In the "Aftershocks: British Contemporary Art Exhibition" held in Beijing more than a decade ago, Hathum's installation "Beyond My Dead Body" has left a deep impression on the Chinese contemporary art community and also let Chinese audiences know Hathrom. However, Hartoum is very different now than it was a decade ago.