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Contextual Practices Measures of Distance A video by Mona Hatoum Mona Hatoum is a Palestinian artist living and working in London. She was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1952. Her short film Measures of Distance tells us about separation, loss of dignity, cultural divides and living in a war zone. It also gives us an insight into what is must be like to be a female artist living in exile. The video opens with indistinct overlaid images and lines of Arabic script (portrayed to remind us of barbed wire fencing). A woman is reading, in English, letters which are from her mother. In the background we here women's voices chattering in Arabic. The letters tell of of the mother's pain at leaving her home in Palestine and how she feels about living in the Lebanon. She is concerned for her daughter's increasing Westernisation, as she now lives abroad. As the sequence progresses, we see clearer images of the mother, who is naked in the shower. The daughter has taken this photograph, much to the father's disapproval. We sense that the father feels that his 'territory' (the mother) has been invaded. As the letters become more bleak, the Arabic writing disappears form the screen, then the images of the mother, then the background chatter until finally we are left with just the voice of the daughter reading the letters. We learn that there has been a gap in communication due to the post office being bombed. The video ends on that bleak note. |
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(C) Helen Williams 2005 |
