Humorous Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum makes Latin American debut

Misbah (Mona Hatoum 2006/7) — “Misbah,” Mona Hatoum, 2006-2007
Marc Domage

The work of Palestinian conceptual artist Mona Hatoum is being celebrated with a major one-woman show at the Pinacoteca in Sao Paulo, one of Brazil’s foremost art museums.

The retrospective, which includes work from the 1980s onwards, is the first solo show for Hatoum in Latin America. Alongside well-known works such as “Misbah” (2006-2007) and “Over My Dead Body” (1988-2002), the exhibition includes new works responding to the immediate environment of the Pinacoteca.

After a run in Sao Paulo, it will transfer to Argentina’s Fundacion Proa.

Mona Hatoum artworks at the Pinacoteca in Sao Paulo.
Christina Rufatto

Hatoum, whose challenging, humorous and inventive work addresses issues of the body, power, gender and violence, is a Lebanese-born artist of Palestinian parentage, now based in London. Her work has been shown in major galleries around the world, and she has been the recipient of multiple awards.

Working in media such as video and installation, some of her work — unusually for a major international artist — has been shown in Palestine, including in the 2012 group show Framed Unframed, focusing on Palestinian women’s creative production, which toured several universities in the occupied West Bank.

Chilean audiences also had the opportunity to see one of Hatoum’s film works at the 2014 Palestinian film festival in Santiago.

The Sao Paulo exhibition, curated by Chiara Bertola, runs at the Pinacoteca until 1 March, and then transfers to the Fundacion Proa in Buenos Aires, where it will show from 15 March to 31 May.