To me, the desert has a transformative nature where one may enter as a nobody and come out as a somebody. – Mona Kuhn
Acclaimed for her contemporary and intimate depictions of the human form, Mona Kuhn takes a new direction into abstraction in her latest series She Disappeared Into Complete Silence. Photographed at a golden modernist structure on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park, architectural lines, light reflections and a single figure have been carefully balanced against the backdrop of the Californian desert.
“She Disappeared into Complete Silence was photographed in a glass house where the golden light enters unobstructed. Conceptually speaking, this glass house with mirrored ceilings was an extension of my own camera and optics.
I was drawn to the desert because of its magical light and raw mystic landscape. The house itself is a minimal structure held mostly together by glass, built by architect Robert Stone. These translucent surfaces offered a great setting for reflections and at times worked as a prism for the light.
Together with a long time friend Jacintha, we experimented with reflections, shadows, illusions, and created images that push the boundaries of representation. I wanted to escape the body and photograph the human presence coming in and out of evidence, at times over exposed, at times hidden in shadows, like a desert mirage, a solitary figure who could have been the very first or last.
The title She Disappeared into Complete Silence was carefully chosen for multiple references. This series is a balance between the figure, abstraction and landscape. The word She has unfolding meanings. It refers not just to the single figure, but also the endless horizon lines running into infinity, and the lines rendered from thoughts.” – Mona Kuhn
Mona Kuhn: She Disappeared Into Complete Silence
Text by Salvador Nadales, curator of Painting and Drawing at Museo Reina Sofia
Book design: Mona Kuhn & Gerhard Steidl
Printing and production: Steidl, Göttingen
104 pages, 53 images
23.7 x 31 cm
Open-spine softcover with gilded top edge
US$ 51.00 / € 45.00
ISBN 978-3-95829-180-5
Release Date USA: January 30, 2019
Publisher: Steidl, Göttingen
