Often the work is about conflict and contradiction – and that conflict or contradiction can be within the actual object
TateShots, 2011
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/mona-hatoum-2365/who-is-mona-hatoum#None.2
Grater Divide 2002 mimics a room divider, like those used in changing rooms or hospitals. You’ll quite quickly notice, however, that this object is a 6 ft cheese grater. The piece is both comical and sinister, strangely graceful as a sculptural piece. The holes in the kitchen utensil are relatively harmless, but scaled up to these proportions they become threatening and potentially harmful.
Remains (chair) 2007
In her sculptures, Hatoum transforms familiar, every-day items such as chairs, cots and kitchen utensils into works that seem foreign, dangerous or even threatening. In installations such as Corps étranger (1994) and Deep Throat (1996) she defamiliarises the body by filming the interior landscape of her own body using an endoscopic camera.
In the large-scale works Homebound (2000) and Sous tension (1999) an assemblage of household furniture is wired-up with an audible electric current. These works combine a sense of threat with a surrealist sense of humour, drawing the viewer in, both on an emotive and intellectual level.
https://whitecube.com/artists/artist/mona_hatoum/