Mona Hatoum (b. 1952) is the fifth artist to receive the prestigious annual Art Icon award at the Whitechapel Gallery. The Art Icon 2018 award will be presented on Monday 29 January 2018.
“This award celebrates the work of an artist who has made a profound contribution to contemporary art”
Past winners of the Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon are Sir Howard Hodgkin (2014), Richard Long (2015) Joan Jonas (2016) and Peter Doig (2017).
Iwona Blazwick said: “This award celebrates the work of an artist who has made a profound contribution to contemporary art, influencing their own and subsequent generations of artists. Mona Hatoum was chosen in recognition of her pioneering work in performance, installation and sculpture; and in raising our awareness of non-western perspectives”.
Nadja Swarovski commented: “We are delighted to continue our support of the Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon award for the fifth successive year and to celebrate Mona Hatoum’s incredible cultural impact over her long career. The work of this empowered, defiantly global artist is an inspiration to us all’’.
The Whitechapel Gallery’s annual Art Icon event is organised with generous support from Swarovski, which has a longstanding commitment to the Gallery and its programme. The event committee includes Nadja Swarovski, Dilyara Allakhverdova, Erin Bell, Evan Chow, Maryam Eisler, Carey Fouks, Bettina von Hase, Teresa Iarocci Mavica, Farshid Moussavi, Catherine Petitgas, Alice Rawsthorn, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Bob Rennie, Darius Sanai, Maria Sukkar and Cheyenne Westphal.
An auction, led by Phillips Auction House, of works donated by leading contemporary artists, will also take place. All funds raised support the Whitechapel Gallery’s programmes, in particular, its work with thousands of children and young people each year.
Mona Hatoum was born into a Palestinian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1952 and has lived in London since 1975. She has participated in numerous important group exhibitions including The Turner Prize (1995), Venice Biennale (1995 and 2005), Documenta, Kassel (2002 and 2017), Biennale of Sydney (2006), the Istanbul Biennial (1995 and 2011) and The Fifth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2013).
For over a century the Whitechapel Gallery has premiered world-class artists from modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Frida Kahlo to contemporaries such as Sophie Calle, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George and Mark Wallinger. With beautiful galleries, exhibitions, artist commissions, collection displays, historic archives, education resources, inspiring art courses, café/bar and bookshop, the Gallery is open all year round, so there is always something free to see. The Gallery is a touchstone for contemporary art internationally, plays a central role in London’s cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarter. The Gallery believes that art has the power to transform the lives of children and young people, and pioneered gallery education and community outreach. Working with thousands of children and young people annually, leading artists collaborate with those who have the greatest need for opportunity, and their art is celebrated through exhibitions in galleries 5&6, which are dedicated to education projects.