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Lot Essay
Mona Hatoum, a Palestinian born in Lebanon and now living in exile in London, revels in challenging bourgeois conservatism and political optimism. Her complex oeuvre in numerous media takes its roots in the turbulent, if not subversive history of Happenings.
In 1985, Hatoum executed two remarkable performances in Brixton as part of an event called 'Roadworks', organised by her friend and 'happening partner', Stefan Szczelkun. In the first action, Szczelkun and Hatoum created a human chain by lying on the ground and drawing police-like chalk lines around each other's body. In the following performance, she walked bare foot with heavy Doc-Marten boots attached to her ankles, the vulnerability of her bare skin being confronted by the menace of the massive boots.
The artist commented: "I found that I was working 'for' the people in the streets of Brixton rather than 'against' the indifferent, often hostile audiences I usually encounter in the art world. In one of the pieces I walked around barefoot, dragging a pair of Doc-Marten boots attached to my ankles - that's what the police wear. These boots have become a symbol of the fascists because the National Front wear them as well." (In: 'Interview with Sara Diamond', in: 'Mona Hatoum', London 1997, p. 132.)
In 1985, Hatoum executed two remarkable performances in Brixton as part of an event called 'Roadworks', organised by her friend and 'happening partner', Stefan Szczelkun. In the first action, Szczelkun and Hatoum created a human chain by lying on the ground and drawing police-like chalk lines around each other's body. In the following performance, she walked bare foot with heavy Doc-Marten boots attached to her ankles, the vulnerability of her bare skin being confronted by the menace of the massive boots.
The artist commented: "I found that I was working 'for' the people in the streets of Brixton rather than 'against' the indifferent, often hostile audiences I usually encounter in the art world. In one of the pieces I walked around barefoot, dragging a pair of Doc-Marten boots attached to my ankles - that's what the police wear. These boots have become a symbol of the fascists because the National Front wear them as well." (In: 'Interview with Sara Diamond', in: 'Mona Hatoum', London 1997, p. 132.)