Present Tense

Mona Hatoum at the Cunard Building for Liverpool Biennial 2012.

Given the news from Gaza last night, I could think of no better Biennial piece to share today than this. 2,400 blocks of olive soap made in Nablus, a city north of Jerusalem. The drawing on the surface is made from tiny glass beads pushed into the soap and depicts the map of the 1993 Oslo Peace Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The map delineates the territories that were supposed to have been handed back to the Palestinian Authority.

When the Biennial started back in September I doubt that Mona Hatoum could have realised just how powerful this work would become. Knowing what we do now, this exhibit stops you in your tracks. The tiresome irritations of yesterday get put into a proper perspective.