Stone Orchid, 2021
Marble, granite, iron
Fabricated in Antigua, Guatemala
Created while Kühn was living in Antigua, Guatemala and pregnant with her first child, Stone Orchid emerged from a self-imposed constraint: to make a work using only discarded construction materials and the skills of local construction fabricators.
Working alongside a stonemason and metalsmith, Kühn transformed remnants of marble, granite, and metal into an enlarged orchid form. The flower—with its associations with sexuality, fertility, and both male and female reproductive structures—became a way of exploring the tension between masculine and feminine, strength and vulnerability, control and surrender.
Made during a period of profound physical change and uncertainty, the work reflects Kühn’s attempt to impose structure and intention on an experience that ultimately resisted control.