ORIGINS, VIOLENCE AND LIMITS AT THE MONA HATOUM EXHIBITION IN VALENCIA

The Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM) exhibits works by the British artist of Palestinian origin after she was awarded the Julio González Prize 2020 by the Generalitat Valenciana. The show gathers together a selection of sculptures, large-scale installations and works on paper created mostly in the last two decades. It is intended to serve as a tribute to an artistic oeuvre of great diversity and significance, presenting key works that have become iconic pieces of the contemporary art world.

ORIGINS, VIOLENCE AND LIMITS AT THE MONA HATOUM EXHIBITION IN VALENCIA

Hatoum is interested in creating formally simple and reductive works that nevertheless impact viewers on an emotional and psychological level. Her work is intentionally created with paradoxical layers of meaning that produce ambiguity and ambivalence to allow several possible and contradictory readings.

She often uses attractive and seductive materials to create alluring objects and installations that, on close inspection, reveal a hidden layer of threat or danger lurking underneath the surface.

 

 

Mona Hatoum was born into a Palestinian family in Beirut in 1952. While on a short visit to London in 1975 the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War prevented her from returning home and she has lived in London ever since. She has held solo exhibitions in numerous museums in Europe, South America, the United States, Canada and Australia. She has also participated in many important international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1995 and 2005), Documenta, Kassel (2002 and 2017), Biennale of Sydney (2006) and Istanbul Biennial (1995 and 2011). Recent solo exhibitions include a major survey organised by Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015), Tate Modern, London and KIASMA, Helsinki (2016-2017). Another survey was initiated by the Menil Collection, Houston (2017) and travelled to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St Louis (2018). Hatoum was awarded the Joan Miró Prize (2011), the 10th Hiroshima Art Prize by the city of Hiroshima (2017), and most recently the Praemium Imperiale by the Japan Art Foundation for her lifetime achievements in the category of sculpture (2019).

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