When looking at photographs the question immediately arises, whom or what we are seeing and where was the picture taken. Ester Vonplon’s images overcome this reflex, most recently in series, the motifs of which originate in desolate nature devoid of artefacts. The photographs show the viewer snow or salt in shots without horizon. They remind us of early experiments in photographic abstraction, and radiate in white monochromy a meditative formal and content-related stillness.

In her new works Vonplon has again consistently extended abstraction. The contact prints of her photos, which among other places she shot in the Arctic, were edited directly. Despite their basis in photography, one can now speak of un-representational images. There are no longer any formal or content-related certainties. As in colourfield painting, the viewers plunge into colour spaces. They have to depend entirely on their own perception, to see now means to discover.

The Manor Art Award is one of the most important advancement awards for contemporary artwork in Switzerland. Combined with the Manor Art Award Chur is a solo exhibition at the Bündner Kunstmuseum as well as the release of a publication.