"Yoanis 2"

gelatin silver print

In this early, striking black-and-white work, Mona Kuhn condenses human anatomy into a sensual, almost sculptural study of form. Instead of depicting the body as a whole, the artist chooses an extreme close-up. Hands play a central role in Kuhn’s early work – they serve as carriers of meaning and as a means of expressing intimacy. A hand encloses a dark stone and rests near the model’s shoulder and neck, reminiscent of a shot putter’s starting position.
With its austere composition and sculptural lighting, the work follows in the tradition of modern photography from the 1920s and 1930s. While the juxtaposition of hand and natural stone evokes the masterful formal studies of Edward Weston or Imogen Cunningham, Kuhn subverts their often-distant objectivity. She combines the sculptural rigor of classical modernism with a contemporary intimacy that radiates warmth.
Central to Mona Kuhn’s artistic approach is the encounter on equal terms. Those she portrays are not passive objects of a voyeuristic gaze, but self-assured partners in the creative process. In Yoanis 2, Kuhn succeeds in conceiving the human body – free from eroticization – as an element of nature: as a pure form that radiates both vulnerability and strength.
(Christoph Fuchs, translated with DeepL)