Contemporary Artists: Mona Hatoum

Part of the Contemporary Artists series.

Born in Lebanon, Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum was exiled to London, where she has lived and worked since the mid 1970s and where, in 1995, she was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize. Through performance, video, sculpture and installation she creates architectonic spaces which relate to the body, language and the condition of exile.

One of her most spellbinding and best known works is a video installation titled 'Corps etranger' where the spectator enters a small pavilion and takes a visual journey through all the orifices of the artist's body. Such works combine states of emotion and longing with the formal simplicity of Minimalism, creating powerful evocations of displacement, denial and otherness. Hatoum's many international exhibitions include the Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris (1994); her work tours extensively to museums throughout the United States in 1997.

Brett explores key themes around a sense of place, the body and communication which emerge from Hatoum's range of work. The artist describes a chronology of practice in conversation with Archer, and de Zegher makes a complex and provocative analysis of 'Recollection', a work she commissioned for a 16th century beguinage. The book also includes Hatoum's own notes, statements and previous interviews.

'Contemporary Artists' is a series of authoritative and highly illustrated studies of important artists of the late 20th century. Each title offers a comprehensive survey of individual artists' works. Different genres of art writing are contributed by an international spectrum of authors who are leading figures in their fields, ranging from art history and criticism to philosophy, cultural theory and fiction. Each study provides incisive analyses and multiple perspectives on contemporary art and its inspiration. These are essential source books for everyone concerned with art today.