mono
The etymology of the word mono comes from the Greek meaning of “alone” or “one”. It is constant, singular. Photographer Hiroko Matsubara and artist Sofia Fanego’s project of the same name is a study of the human form, often resembling ancient statues and sculptures. The book of photographs is a collaboration years in the making, all shot on film, where Fanego’s delicate yet capable form is captured by the elegant lens of Matsubara.
A refreshing and visceral glimpse of rawness in a world that is plastic and pixelated, the photographs in Mono are more akin to stone or the shapes of mountains, bringing to mind the taste of rain, minerals, grain, salt. Or as the poet and writer Brit Parks phrases it in her lyrical introduction, “A partial limb that could be stone, a stone record of a limb. We find ancient statues in the depths of the sea, is it a myth they survived centuries. Was she missing her arms from the start. We document our surprise, our belief in filmic gas, and endless longing to capture the strewn parts.”
The nude images bring to mind not sexuality but primal instinct, celebrating the human body and reminding us that we are animals, products of nature. Though the collaboration between these talented female artists does have a feminine sensitivity, the body is photographed in a way that is relatable to any gender identity. The subject is playful and explorative, adorned with bruises and moles, bones in a quiet repose beneath the skin.
Fanego, who has travelled the world as a muse, is known for combining vintage images of women with living plants, flowers, and other foraged findings, sometimes resembling one of Ana Mendieta’s self-portraits in nature. Sofia’s affinity for gathering and muted hunting started when she was a young girl on her family’s farm in Argentina. Now she excavates her materials from whatever city she is passing through, or from her ethereal studio in Normandie.
Tokyo-based Hiroko Matsubara’s palpable style is echoed in her use of pastel grain and love of the analog medium. “I changed the size of the camera because the medium format wanted to take a little objective body part. The 35mm format wanted to focus more on the movement of a person. Sofia is a great expresser. She captures my feelings, replaces them with herself, and expresses them.” The result is a call and response that is both poetic and undefinable.
“We could drink two legs like beginner’s milk,” writes Parks, who is a multi-disciplinary artist herself as well as an art editor. Her poem, “Stone Amnesia” is a perfectly surreal description of the images, putting into words what is felt upon taking them in: “Chisel with it delicate / violence chipping at stone / breaking pulses, demonstrations / of an arm with a shoulder / telling your limbs / it’s a stand in for / a flesh tracing.” - Brit Parks 0fr. Paris
