Mona Hatoum’s art reflects her condition as a genius in exile.

Hatoum was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Palestinian parents in 1952. However, as refugees from Palestine's 1948 war, Hatoum was never allowed to be a Lebanese citizen. And then in 1975, Mona was on vacation in London when war broke out in Lebanon. She was stranded there at 23 years of age without her family. With this strange new freedom, Hatoum decided to go to art school, something her family discouraged from an early age. She explained that, “Because they lost everything, they didn’t care so much about property and things. They cared more about building the character of their children and making them strong, so they could stand alone.” And they were successful. Mona attended Slade School of Fine Art in London, using her feelings of displacement to fuel her work. She soon became pegged as the feminist, Palestinian, Arab artist and was revered for her “otherness.”

Many people ask what in her work is inspired by her upbringing in Lebanon, which generally pisses her off. She explains: “As if I have a recipe and I can actually isolate the Arab ingredient, the woman ingredient, the Palestinian ingredient. People often expect tidy definitions of otherness, as if identity is something fixed and easily definable.” Hatoum’s inspiration is a mixed bag, as you can tell from her materials which range from a camera up her you-know-where to a friend’s back hair. There’s no telling what you’re going to get out of her.

Matoum, as deserved, has had exhibitions all over the world. She’s been in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the New Museum in New York, and so on. She has participated in several biennials and group shows and has won the Hiroshima Art Prize in, the Rolf Schock Prize, and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. No doubt this is not the last we’ll see of Mona Hatoum.