Mona Kuhn was born in Germany in 1969, raised in Brazil, and now lives in the US. She received her BA from Ohio State University, before furthering her studies at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1996 and then at The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles in 1999. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held in Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Munich, Hamburg, São Paulo and San Francisco.

After 20 years, Mona Kuhn returned to her native country, to reinterpret her past. Photographed entirely in Brazil, mostly in the rainforest and city surroundings, Native employs the green, gold and pink underlying palette of the country. In a contrast to her previous series, Native employs nature as a mirror of her encounters with people and human emotions.

“This work began as a personal journey. Metaphorically, I was thinking of a bird that flies back into the forest, searching for its childhood nest. The images here are a creation of my abstracted wishes and dreams. As I was searching, instead of home, I found an empty past, just traces of it. Yet, my journey was filled with new friendships, and discoveries made along the way.” (Mona Kuhn)