Overview
Through the discovery of new people and places, Kuhn has created her abstracted dreams of both the past and the present.
Mona Kuhn, best known for her alluring figurative studies in a French naturist colony, returned to her birthplace of Brazil after a 20 year absence to produce this new body of work. While this journey home was an attempt to reconnect with her personal history, Kuhn soon found that only traces remained. Through the discovery of new people and places, Kuhn has created her abstracted dreams of both the past and the present. The result is a sensual and pensive narrative, depicting lush jungle landscapes, rustic interiors, and captivating nudes.
In these photographs, exhibited here for the first time in the UK, Kuhn encapsulates the emotions of living in Brazil through her memory of the landscape's green, yellow and pink palette, as well as her intimate reconnection with its people. By contrasting the vitality of the dense Brazilian countryside with the sparse interior of an abandoned apartment, Kuhn establishes her own fantasy of time and place. Within the portraits, the artist develops a trusting relationship with her subjects, allowing her to portray the complexities of human nature, both tempting and provoking the viewer's imagination. Kuhn delicately intertwines these disparate aspects in a series that constitutes her most mature work to date.
Through the discovery of new people and places, Kuhn has created her abstracted dreams of both the past and the present.
