Mona Hatoum

Mona Hatoum, Present Tense, 1996. Photograph by Jerry Hardman-Jones

Mona Hatoum, Shift, 2012. Photograph by Jerry Hardman-Jones

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Mona Hatoum’s work interrogates the politics embedded in even the most mundane of objects, and the politics of body. By means of sculpture, installation and video, the artist reveals the subtext (the 'undercurrent' meaning, to paraphrase one of her titles) ingrained in the form and usage of utensils and everyday materials. 

Displacement, variations in scale and size, as well as unorthodox associations are amongst the strategies that the artist uses to remind the viewer that each object is culturally, socially and politically charged. In a sense, Hatoum suggests that nothing and no one is innocent. A selection of recent works, and some which have never been seen in the UK, created a thread that helped the audience to navigate several spaces of the Cunard Building and other sites. Along this journey, the viewer will be confronted by unusual mappings of the world and, most importantly, ideas of cultural dominance and political ignorance.

Mona Hatoum (b. 1952, Beirut, Lebanon) lives and works in London and Berlin. Solo exhibitions include Projection (Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona, Spain, 2012), You are Still Here (Arter, Istanbul, Turkey, 2012) and Bunker (White Cube, London, 2011).

Mona Hatoum at Liverpool Biennial 2012

Afghan (red and black), 2008
Wool
Courtesy of the Artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

Present Tense, 1996
Soap and glass beads
Courtesy of the Artist

Routes V, 2008
Pen and ink on five different maps.
Courtesy of the Artist and Galerie Max Hetzler

Testimony, 1995-2002
Black and white DVD with sound
Courtesy of the Artist and White Cube Gallery

Shift, 2012
150 x 260 cm, wool
Courtesy of the Artist

3D Cities, 2008-2010
Printed maps and wood
Courtesy of the Artist and White Cube Gallery

All exhibited at The Cunard Building