Mona Hatoum - Early Career

Early Career

In an attempt to settle with her mother, Hatoum attended the Beirut University College in Lebanon to study graphic design. She went to graphic arts school “as a compromise to be able to go to university and study some kind of career related to art, but obviously it wasn't art. It was a way of doing something that would get me a job as soon as I left university, and it was only a two year course so it meant that I could get out of my father's grip or whatever within two years, so I did two years of graphic design.” After obtaining her degree, Hatoum began working with an advertising agency. Hatoum was displeased with the work she was producing while working in advertising. “I was like always on the wrong side of the fence...because I was always pointing out that the adverts were not honest…that they were claiming certain things about the products which were not there... I wasn't part of that conspiracy against the consumer if you like...it gave me internal conflict to work in this kind of situation.”