Is Mona Hatoum a Surrealist Palestinian?

Mona Hatoum ( b. 1952, Lebanon) was born into a Palestinian family in Beirut. She often explores the danger and limit of everyday objects, giving them a new vision of interpretation. Her poetic and political oeuvre is realized in a different range of media: installation, sculpture, video photography and work on paper can be interpreted as a description of the body, gender and a commentary on politics.

All her earlier works draw a strong link with the condition of Palestine people. Although born in Lebanon, she always emphasizes her belonging to Palestine, but expresses frustration when that of "nationality" is the only interpretation that the audience gives to her works.

One of her most celebrated works is a video "Measure of distance" she made in 1988. Hatoum produced this video of letters written by her mother in Beirut to her in London. The video is a sensual conversation between two women, mother and daughter, in which the former speaks openly about feelings, sexuality and femininity.

                                     

"Although the main thing that comes across is a very close and emotional relationship between mother and daughter, it also speaks of exile, displacement, disorientation and a tremendous sense of loss as a result of the separation caused by war." ¹

                                     

“View Siege” (1982) was a performance piece in which she was trapped in a large glass container entirely covered in clay. She tried several times to stand but repeatedly slipped and fell as the clay from her body smelted. It was a clear reference to the condition in Palestine as a country living in continuous siege. A collage of sound from different directions and in different languages was the background of the event.

Hatoum’s work is strongly evaluated as existing in the space between the Duchamp’s ready-mades surrealism and minimalism through her way of exploring objects and giving them a metaphoric interpretation via different framework. To explore the way in which she manipulates the object it is interesting to look at “Untitled (Wheelchair II), produced in 1999.

At first glance, the object looks unremarkable in its status, but as soon as one looks closer the differences come across: the chair itself is very uncomfortable and the wheels are very small, consequently the object is useless in its purpose and what appeared is different from the reality.
She took part in the Venice Biennale in 1995 and 2005 and has received numerous international awards, including the Joan Miró Prize in Barcelona (2011), the Käthe Kollwitz Prize in Berlin (2010), the Rolf Schock Prize in Stockholm (2008) and an honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut (2008).

Today Mona lives and works in London and Berlin, exploring daily through her works, the duality of belonging to a Country of Arab tradition as well as to belong at the other, the “adoptive one” in which prejudice is overcome and freedom is a right of everybody.

1. Quoted in Mona Hatoum 1977, P.140

USSSA and Engaging the Public During the Presidential Election

Recently, I was invited to document and join a group of artists who are planning an exhibition with a series of multi-city art rallies, which are anchored by a collective engagement with America's ongoing Presidential Election process. The USSSA project is curated by m. ryan noble a.k.a. imagici. noble’s previous efforts culminated in a collective effort called FLAG STOP. Dedicated to the ideals of democracy and self-expression, the USSSA project aims to finding a meeting space for these two endeavors, which are the primary agendas for all candidates involved.  

The collective's approach to art and its role in society was largely shaped by performance artists such as Linda Montano, Sharon Hayes, and Marina Abramović.  

For instance, Marina’s 2010 retrospective at the MoMA The Artist is Present could be understood as the act of stripping the to its core elements -- perception, (self) identification, and, hopefully, a subsequent understanding. To really look at a subject is to really try to understand it, and this has largely informed noble’s approach to art and its role in society.

Where does art fit in?  Just think about how Romney's weakness tends to be his lack of sensitivity about the working-class conditions in the United States or even Santorum's misguided and overtly misogynist advice about "friends" not letting friends "use pink balls." Video played a large role in how that information became public knowledge. In short, thank goodness that there are politically engaged individuals and groups out there that don't let these missteps go unnoticed. We can all agree that these are not the appropriate messages for the nation to obey.  

Much of this commentary is made possible by art and media -- YouTube, the news, and even performance art!  It's important to note that all of the aforementioned resources are highly collaborative mediums, which rely greatly upon its audience.  And this is where USSSA aims to be more far-reaching in carrying its message that there is much more to be spoken by the (potentially voting) public. San Francisco was the site of the first meeting, and Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago are under consideration for future rallies. The meetings are free and open to the public, too! 

As we move forward in the election process, and learn more about the current state of democracy, these artists will convene in an effort to create an additional layer -- a discussion in tandem with what’s been made public. In essence, there is plenty of room to document and express more private concerns that seep through political debates, publicity, and legislation. noble suggests that, more often than not, the common reaction to the often-frustratingly generalized language used during the presidential election season can lead many to feel a sense of invisibility or hopelessness. As noble states, it can make many of us perceive "social reality as an illness—pervasive, contagious and stigmatized."  

As mentioned, in order to successfully engage with a subject, perception must be followed by the act of identifying with it (in some form) and understanding it on our own terms. With that said, the artists aim to provide this dialogue and invite the public to make this happen.  The project includes several visual and performance artists, including Wafaa Bilal, Barbara Horiuchi, Sarah Sense, Christy Speakman, and Dread Scott.  For a complete list of participating artists, see the USSSA: Phase 1 fundraiser page.

Dread Scott.  Imagine a World Without America.  Screen print on canvas. 

If you'd like to support this project, please donate.  Each phase of this project depends upon active participation in the spirit of democracy!

What They Bear. Why They Run.

This week, millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a war-ravaged African country, voted in their second ever presidential and parliamentary election.

With a population of over 70 million and one of the highest occurrences of rape in the world, the New York Times reported fear of violent outbreaks due to Congo’s elections because of fraudulent politics and, essentially, DRC's reverse development. “This year the United Nations ranked it dead last of the 187 countries on the Human Development Index.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo is also known to be one of the worst places on earth to be a woman.

In mid-May, a study in the American Journal of Public Health, found that 400,000 females aged 15-49 were raped over a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007. The greatest numbers of rapes were found in DRC's North Kivu. There an average of 67 women out of 1,000 have been raped. At least once. That’s 48 women an hour.

Imagine. Having to go into a forest. The only place. To find food. For your children.
Imagine. Emerging raped. Not once. Not twice. Every time. Any time. Whenever.
Imagine. Returning home. And being raped. By your partner.

According to the Christan Science Monitor, this is daily life for Congolese women. “Rape is becoming part of the culture,” said Michael Van Rooyen, the director of Harvard’s Humanitarian Initiative and an expert on rape in the Congo.

One Man’s Journey for Congolese Women
For two years, Londoner Chris Jackson has lived in absolute dedication to sport, not just as a human rights advocate but also as an athlete and spokesperson for Congolese rape victims. He’s completed myriad heroic athletic acts to raise awareness of the horror women in Congo live every single day of their lives. Rampant and repeated sexual violence. Rape as a weapon of war.

CLIO TALKS BACK: Clio Investigates the “Politics” of Motherhood

An illustration from the Bulletin des Groupes féministes de l’Enseignement laique calling for Maternity as a Social Function. The caption reads: “we demand that society finally understandthe role that is required: that the mother’s budget replace the war budget, that the budget for life replace the budget for death.” It points out that the War Budget of the French state is 5000 million francs, whereas the Mother’s Budget amounts to a mere 114 million francs.

Motherhood around the world has never been simply a matter of women bearing children. It has never been simply about the joys of maternity or the fears about keeping children healthy and safe. Sometimes, as was the case in many European countries, the governments got into the act. Feminists, too, demanded that governments designate maternity as a paid social function. Why? Because the conditions for maternity were terrible, birth-rates were falling, many of the babies who survived childbirth would die before their first birthday, those who lived longer suffered stunted growth, and the leaders of nation-states feared the economic (and military) consequences of the stagnant population. Promoting contraceptive information was illegal and often young women were ill-informed about how to avoid pregnancies.

Henriette Alquier published the following analysis of French motherhood in 1927. She was subsequently prosecuted by the French government for promoting neomalthusian (e.g. contraceptive) propaganda; the government’s real agenda, however, was probably anticommunist. Alquier’s denunciation of the statute of motherhood under capitalism clearly reveals the inspiration she and others found in the measures taken in the USSR since the revolution of 1917 to reconcile motherhood with paid labor for women. Alquier’s feminist analysis was further informed by eugenic thinking and by the latest findings of the pronatalist medical community in France, especially those of the physician Dr. Adolphe Pinard.

Clio loves to present historical feminists speaking in their own words. Here is the first part of Alquier’s text, which appeared in 1927 in a periodical published by radical secular schoolteachers.

Tunisia Revolt Though the Eyes of its Youth

photo property of: Crethi Plethi

Rising unemployment has struck a nerve with many young Tunisians who hoped that their successful 'Jasmine Revolt,' which forced former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia on January 14, would quickly result in rapid job growth. Tunisia's post-revolutionary blues has caused many Tunisians to lose confidence in the progress of their revolt but for 21-year-old Myriam Ben Ghazi the revolution is just beginning.

"Small protests or gatherings expressing discontent against the regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali had never happened before in Tunisia, so when the revolution started, I freaked because for twenty-three years we were never allowed to express our opinions publicly. I wondered if this would really work or if people’s lives would be lost for nothing.

I think that the turning point for us was that we finally saw the corruption; even though we always knew that it existed, it was the norm to just look away.  When people went to the streets to demand change, it was clear we were finally facing it.

We had to face it, because remounts of Ben Ali's Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party are still working behind the scenes in the government and in the judiciary. The best example would be the trials and sentencing of Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi in absentia. Orchestrating their trials is really a piece of theatre, because they're off enjoying their life in Saudi Arabia while we continue suffering from poverty. But for the public it’s kind of a drug that government gives us to keep us quiet.

As a young Tunisian, I started think about what young people need to do in order to keep the country on a path towards democracy. Since I don’t know how to take up arms and fight, I decided to continue the struggle as a writer through journalism so that I can bring the voices of young people to the outside world.

I think the revolution will take a long time, but the real revolution that we need right now is one of the mind, because the only way we will be able to progress forward is if people start to make changes within themselves. Even after the revolution people are still thinking with the same mentality of the past and believing that nothing has really changed. But we have gained our freedom, we're facing corruption, and in the time we'll grow economically. What's important now is that focus on the October 23 elections, where Tunisians will be able to elect a constituent assembly to reform the constitution. The last time our constitution was amended was nine years ago, after the Tunisian constitutional referendum of 2002.

For me voting is another way that we as young people will be able to continue changing Tunisia by our own hand, rather than others making the decisions for us.

As for the international media, they are always looking for the latest scoop and hot news so if there is war happening in Libya and Tunisia is calming down then they will look to Libya of course instead of really exploring the intricate details of what is going on in Tunisia. However, right now we don’t need the media to be all over us we just need to focus on our own issues, concentrate on the elections and establish democracy in Tunisia. Then once Tunisia becomes an economic success then the media will look at Tunisia as the place that started the Arab Spring two or three years ago and hail the country for all the economic, social and political changes."

The Thing About the 30% Quota for Women in Sierra Leone

Photo via Chad Finer

It might surprise you to learn that the average middle class educated Sierra Leonean woman does not think about women's rights. More likely than not she also sees little wrong with the sexual innuendos and unsolicited sexual advances she might face at work or elsewhere. If she's a civil servant, she will not think that the reason why her promotion is delayed while young men new to the service move up quick is an indication of inequality. Or that her male peers with equal years of service seem to rise faster in ranks than she does as a marker of discrimination. This same middle class educated Sierra Leonean woman is neither angry nor infuriated by statistics that say that Sierra Leone is a death trap for expecting mothers and children under 5. When she is pregnant she will give birth without much alarm in a suitable hospital in Sierra Leone, or she will travel to the UK to deliver her unborn child taking advantage of their universal access to health care.

When some other middle class women form women's organizations to mobilize and lobby for women's issues, more likely than not she will not join them nor will she care about the plight of women less fortunate than her. She is neither concerned nor moved when injustice befalls other women of her social standing. In fact she might even look down on the women in these organizations, or class them as opportunists barely seeking individual gains or political power. The average middle class educated Sierra Leonean woman is more concerned about herself, getting or keeping her man, her immediate family, what to wear, and most importantly who to call for the next bit of juicy gossip. This woman is too busy and involved in her own personal growth and development than to worry about women's issues.

So, the plight of women in Sierra Leone remains unchanged because women in positions to empower other women or challenge the status quo are not doing so. We do not see ourselves reflected in statistics and reports that say Sierra Leone is one of the worst countries to be born a girl. We middle class educated Sierra Leonean women prefer to fight and compete with other women who are just like us than fighting for change.

Arab Women Challenge Western Media

CAIRO May 18, 2011 (Her Blueprint) – Though demonstrating, taking risks, mobilizing, suffering and standing side by side with men in the uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, Arab women are also challenging the Western media to acknowledge their voice.

From Tunisia, to Egypt, to Yemen and Morocco, women have been at the forefront of the Arab Spring revolutions.

Yemeni women, who represent a third of the thousands of anti-government protestors demanding an end to Ali Abdullah Saleh’s thirty-year rule, are shattering traditions that go back centuries.

“I myself came from a conservative family but my grandmother used to have more freedom in the way that she dressed, talked and dealt with men than I have now,” said Samia al-Haddad, Program and Human Rights Officer for the Yemeni Organization for Development and Rehabilitation in an interview with Her Blueprint.

According to al-Haddad, women’s rights became stifled after the 80’s.

“If you see the footage and the video coming from Yemen and you will see all women veiled in black and this was not the image of women in the 80’s before the expansion of Salafists and Wahabi movements came from Saudi Arabia.”

Hibaaq Osman from Somalia is the CEO and Founder of Karama. She says that the Western media was shocked to see women out on the streets, raising their voices, protesting for democracy and walking side by side with men for a unified cause – political reform and equal rights.

“You have to understand the psychology of the Western media. They want to see a weak, meek and covered woman,” Osman told Her Blueprint.

According to Osman, it’s about time that the West take a good look at themselves before pointing the finger.

Egyptian Women Have Long Struggled to Break Societal Taboos

“In a society like Egypt, where both men and women have lived under military dictatorship for decades and have been denied their human dignity, how can we expect men to understand the importance respecting the human rights of women?” asks Doaa Abdelaal, a council member with Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML).

Egyptian women--like women in Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain--have taken a lead role in the protests sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. Mainstream western media has overlooked how women have been at the forefront of breaking society taboos. The reality is that Egyptian women have been, for the past twenty years, working towards nationwide democratic change.