Mona
Kuhn: Photographs by Mona Kuhn.
Published by Steidl. 2004. ISBN 978-3865210081
Mona
Kuhn was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1969, and is of German descent
- spending time in both countries. She states that "Growing up
in different countries opened my mind but it also made me a bit melancholic
at times." She earned her degree in the United States from the
Ohio State University. Since 1998 she has been an independent studies
scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. She has also found
time to lecture about her work, at both the Cincinnati Art Museum and
the Georgia Museum of Art, and has acted as a visiting artist at The Pasadena
Arts Centerand. She has exhibited widely and 'Photographs' is her first monograph.
Kuhn is
a friend of the photographer Jock Sturges, indeed she often uses some
of the same French locations as Sturges, but, though his influence is
evident throughout the volume, her style is markedly different to his
- perhaps hers is best described as a cross between a softer Ralph Gibson
and Edward Weston? In interviews Kuhn has stated that she is drawn to
France because "In France the body is an egalitarian unity... (for example)...the breast of a woman is seen as patriotic, almost
nationalistic." The photographs she produces are intimate little
creations that display delicate tones, allowing for subtle nuances to
shine through. Many images play heavily with differential focusing, sometimes
with only the main subject of interest being sharply defined, sometimes
not, with the rest of the scene being playfully and tantalisingly out
of focus. Both the close-ups and the softer focused representations, many
reminiscent of those produced by the Holga or Diana, are used to create
strong, sometimes near abstract, compositions that give the impression
of them being captured moments of a daydream.
Mona
Kuhn has befriended many of the people whom she photographs - an achievement
that she felt was crucial to the project. Relaxed in her presence, and
before her camera, her subjects give the clear impression
that they are all extremely comfortable being naked. With a unique style,
Kuhn's intimate photographs of both young and old are sensual studies
that play with the contrasts of perfect skin and the wrinkles of experience,
light and shadow, gestures, signals and gazes. The images she creates
have an hypnotic simplicity; a delicate structure that belies the strict
composition. 'Photographs' is published in a hard cover,
with dust jacket. The 108 page monograph contains 50+ monochrome and colour
photographs with, mercifully, a minimum of text - rightly leaving the
work to speak for itself. The images are printed one per page, often with
no image facing, on matt art paper and reproduced to the same high standard
that one has come to expect from the publishing house of Steidl which,
in this volume particularly, is first rate.
Kuhn
has produced a collection of photographs that celebrate the human form,
its sexuality, sensuality, fragility and its emotional strengths. Yes,
there is more than a hint of decadence, and perhaps narcissism, to the
lifestyle lead by her subjects that could alienate some viewers, but,
in the final analysis, the images she has produced leave one breathless
with their simplicity and delicacy and I can recommend 'Photographs' to you without reservation.
Review by
Christopher John Ball
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