In her video work Measures of Distance (1988), Mona Hatoum addresses the feelings of abandonment and displacement she experienced after being separated from her family in Beirut. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, Hatoum happened to be visiting London and was unable to return home. She chose to remain in London, where she studied Fine Art.
The autobiographical work from 1988 is composed of still images of her mother in the shower and a conversation between them, which Hatoum had recorded during a visit to Beirut in 1981, as well as excerpts from the letters they exchanged during their separation. Arabic script appears across the images of the naked female body, forming a kind of grid. Hatoum reads aloud from the letters in English, while in the background a lively conversation between mother and daughter can be heard in Arabic. As the film unfolds, the images of the body gradually recede into darkness, and the voices fade into silence, until only Hatoum’s voice remains against a black screen.
