Measures of Distance (1988)

"Measures of Distance" is an uncharacteristically autobiographical work which, Hatoum has said, speaks of displacement, disorientation and a tremendous sense of loss as a result of the separation caused by war. Hatoum was born to Palestinian parents living in exile in Beirut. In 1975, while visiting London, Hatoum herself became an exile; war broke out in Lebanon and Hatoum stayed in England. In this video, the artist overlaid footage of her mother with scrolling Arabic script - the text of letters Hatoum's mother wrote to her from Beirut, which the artist reads aloud in English. This sound track is interspersed with candid dialogues between mother and daughter.