Hidden Hills by Cornelia Thonhauser

Studio Last

MIRAGE MOUNTAIN, GOLD DUST AVENUE & PARADISE VALLAY

Hidden Hills” plays in the lands of the American West. It celebrates a mythical ritualistic dimension, the fading presence of ancient voices that whispered back from the‘empty’ desert. Five years ago the photographer Cornelia Thonhauser started to explore the American West. During many road trips and long walks through the Sonoran Desert, she started to perceive the landscape as a container for her geographical and anthropological research. Taking images was an attempt to recover a somewhat buried spirituality.

Writer Hannah Bhuiya states in her book Hidden Hills:‘Nature is a tough beauty fighting the long fight against the menace of concrete, tarmac and steel tower. The mountains in this desert landscape were set solid and strong in place by Gods who have been forgotten, even though most of the original Americans who guarded them are now buried in a graveyard of nationwide dimension. Their former presence is only emphasised in their haunting absence. The hidden hills are a monument to these many millions of missing persons.

Artist: Cornelia Thonhauser. With texts by Hannah Bhuiya. 2021