Hatoum, Mona (1952-…), is a Lebanese artist known for her powerful, abstract artworks that reflect themes of suffering or imprisonment. Most of Hatoum’s works are installations, works created temporarily for an indoor or outdoor space or site. Hatoum’s installations include Shocks to the System (1991) and Corps Etranger (Foreign Body) (1994).
Hatoum was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She moved to London in 1975 after civil war broke out in her country. She studied at the Byam Shaw and Slade schools of art, both in London, graduating from the Slade in 1981. Her early work was in the form of performance art, a type of live performance that combines dancing and acting with other art forms. By 1989, she was creating large installations. Hatoum had a major solo exhibition at the Arnolfini Gallery, in Bristol, England in 1993, and was given a full retrospective (exhibition of an artist’s life’s work) at the Pompidou Center in Paris in 1994.
