Measures of distance

Audiovisual work - docufilm
Director
Year

Mona Hatoum, an artist of Palestinian origin born in Beirut, lived an experience of forced exile in Great Britain, due to the 1975 civil war in Lebanon. During her stay in London, where part of her education took place, her identity as a woman and Arab citizen and her experience expatriate have profoundly influenced her artistic work. Measures of Distance is a video which mixes different elements and narratives. The main protagonists are the letters sent by the mother of Hatoum from Beirut to her daughter in London, displayed in Arabic on the screen, which the artist reads aloud in English. The images in the background instead show slides of the mother of Hatoum in the shower, photographed by the artist during a visit to Lebanon. In the video they alternate also recorded conversations in Arabic between mother and daughter, in which topics are openly discussed such as sexuality and the difficulties caused by war. This work highlights not only the intense and emotional parental bond, but also the themes of exile, displacement and the sense of loss due to the separation caused by the war, as well as the confrontation on the same topics from different geographical perspectives.