128-139 MONA HATOUM / INTERTWINED

LIVE WORK FOR THE BLACK ROOM / 1981


[...RAINA LAMPKINS-FIELDER / LET’S BEGIN WITH THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR NOMADIC EXISTENCE. YOU WERE BROUGHT UP BOTH WITHIN & OUTSIDE OF THE CULTURE OF YOUR FAMILY, HAVE LIVED IN LONDON OVER 35 YEARS & MORE RECENTLY BERLIN. CULTURALLY OR OTHERWISE, WHAT GESTURES HAVE YOU RETAINED OR TAKEN ON, & HOW HAVE YOU BEEN TRANSFORMED?

MONA HATOUM / I WAS BORN IN BEIRUT IN A PALESTINIAN FAMILY & I WAS ALREADY 23 YEARS OLD WHEN I LEFT LEBANON SO ALL MY UPBRINGING WAS WITHIN A SO-CALLED ARAB CULTURE. I SAY SO-CALLED BECAUSE BEIRUT WAS A VERY COSMOPOLITAN PLACE AT THE TIME. MY FAMILY IS CHRISTIAN, I WAS EDUCATED IN FRENCH SCHOOLS, & THEN WENT ON TO AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN BEIRUT, SO BEFORE I EVEN LEFT I’D HAD QUITE AN ECLECTIC SET OF INFLUENCES & I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PINPOINT WHAT IN ME COMES FROM ‘ARAB TRADITION’ & WHAT IS ‘FOREIGN’, EVEN AT THAT TIME. THIS IS THE POST-COLONIAL CONDITION WHERE ONE DEALS WITH A MIXTURE OF CULTURAL INFLUENCES ALL THE TIME. & NOW THAT I HAVE SPENT MORE THAN HALF MY LIFE IN ENGLAND & MORE RECENTLY DIVIDING MY TIME BETWEEN LONDON & BERLIN, WHERE DOES ONE BEGIN TO DISENTANGLE ONE’S MAKE UP & ANALYSE WHAT IS WHAT?
WELL, REGARDING GESTURES, I REMEMBER THE ONES I HAD TO LOSE. WHEN I FIRST GOT TO ENGLAND, I USED TO GET TOO PHYSICALLY CLOSE TO PEOPLE & WAS IN THE HABIT OF CASUALLY TOUCHING PEOPLE WHILE TALKING TO THEM. THIS HAD TO GO AS IT WAS BEING MISINTERPRETED AS SEXUAL ADVANCES.
BUT, IN GENERAL I SEE IDENTITY AS SOMETHING THAT IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING & EVOLVING. THE TRANSFORMATION HAPPENS ALL THE TIME & WHEN YOU TRY TO DEFINE CERTAIN ASPECTS AS BELONGING TO THIS OR THAT CULTURE YOU GET INTO THE REALM OF CLICHÉS & STEREOTYPES. I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM ALL THAT. IT IS A CONTINUUM; IT IS A COMPLEX THING & GETTING INTO DICHOTOMIES IS NOT USEFUL IN MY OPINION.
I THINK WHAT I APPRECIATE THE MOST ABOUT MY POSITION IS THAT I AM ALWAYS ABLE TO SEE THINGS FROM AT LEAST 2 DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES— FROM WITHIN & FROM OUTSIDE THE CULTURE I AM LIVING IN WHICH GIVES ME A WIDER PERSPECTIVE ON ALL THINGS.

[...]

RL-F / COMMUNICATION & MISCOMMUNICATION— HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO BE ‘UNDERSTOOD’? MH / I AM NOT SURE IT IS EVER POSSIBLE TO BE COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD. I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF COMMUNICATION AS EACH PERSON INTERPRETS THE WORLD IN THEIR OWN WAY & VERY MUCH DEPENDING ON THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE & THEIR OWN PSYCHOLOGICAL OR CULTURAL MAKE-UP. YOU CAN NEVER PREDICT OR CONTROL HOW PEOPLE READ YOUR WORK— & WHY SHOULD YOU?...]


/ EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH MONA HATOUM BY RAINA LAMPKINS-FIELDER




THE NEGOTIATING TABLE / 1983




CAGE-À-DEUX / 2002




BUNKER / 2011


/ IMAGES COURTESY OF WHITE CUBE / LONDON

ENTIRE ARTICLE ONLY IN THE PRINTED EDITION OF SOME/THINGS MAGAZINE CHAPTER005