Native by Mona Kuhn

I've been thinking lately that I've wanted to read some photography books. I used to read them quite often in my early twenties and I miss that love of photography that I once had. Not two days after this thought popped into my head, one of my favorite online publicists zipped me an email asking if I'd be interested in reviewing Mona Kuhn's' Native and I was ecstatic with the offer! I looked up some of her work and it looked stunning. I was thrilled when the book arrived on my doorstep. I was even more thrilled upon opening the pages. Mona Kuhn brings us into the rainforests of her homeland, Brazil. Through the lens of her camera, she captures the beauty, the magic, and the haunting appeal of the forests and it's people. Her photos of the trees, vines and plants are absolutely stunning!! They're blurred around the edges and while some photos evoke a sense of decay, others evoke a sense of the plants being alive....as if they're crawling towards her camera lens. Her portraits are gorgeous. They are interspersed throughout scenes of the rainforest, scenes of sunlight peeking through shaded curtains and darkened rooms. The portraits are a celebration of the human body. Most of them are nudes, and Kuhn has full respect for the male and female form, fully capturing it's beauty. The people that she photographs are just as exotic as the rich tropical plants that neighbor their photos, sensual, beautiful, and mysterious. I think what I loved most about this book, and what I love about most photography books that center around a geographical location is that it allowed me to get a feel for this place. I've always dreamed of traveling to the rainforests of Brazil. It's high on my list of places that I would like to one day see. It's a place that seems to exist only in picture books and tv specials until you see it with your own eyes. But Mona Kuhn does a fabulous job of making that place real with this book, but at the same time, she makes it more mysterious than ever. I found that she has a gorgeous website if you want to learn more about her art!