BODY LANGUAGE

 

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My brother was never a man of many words. Even as a little boy, he preferred observing and learning to chit-chatting. He used to sit in the empty tub of our bathroom, a Mickey Mouse magazine in his lap, watching me get ready to go out. “What’s this?”, he would ask as I carefully applied mascara or blush. And with the limited patience of a bigger sister, I would explain to him all the things I knew about changing and improving one’s appearance. What I didn’t know was that all these hours of observing would form a devotion to beauty; a deep understanding that sometimes the clearest expressions of it are born out of no words at all. What really creates beauty, is the storytelling that comes from within the soul. These are the tales told through body language.

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A few years ago, my brother and I found ourselves on the same set. Alongside a team of stylists, cameramen, and assistants surrounding a very young model. The photoshoot was in full swing and with the industry’s related speed, no crew member stopped to notice the growing discomfort of the girl. As make-up artists and hair stylist pulled and plugged along, giving her different instructions and orders, they each failed to see how a language barrier was preventing the model from doing what she was asked to do.

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Tension and disapproval were growing on set and after several shots that proved to be unsatisfying, my brother did the only thing no one had thought of. He stopped the shoot - sent everyone on a break. And as folks cleared the studio, I watched him carefully put down his camera and slowly approach the distressed and lost woman sitting on a prop chair before him. I stood for a second, wondering what he was going to say. But to my surprise, my brother stayed silent. Instead, he reached the center of the set, established eye contact, and then slowly sat down by her feet. I am not sure if any words were spoken, but having this tall, bearded, built man make himself physically smaller than her gave our model her confidence back and proved a universal law about truly great photography: It is about humanity. A concept that goes far beyond clothes, and makeup, and set design. A concept that does not care about what languages you speak or how big you are as an artist. A concept that can only be communicated through body language.

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Looking back at his first photographs all the way to his most recent work, I see that my brother never lost sight of this concept or of his quiet, curious nature. In many ways he remains the silently sitting boy that prefers observing and understanding to telling anyone what he wants them to do. And as a result,

Kurler’s photographs are not only a celebration of true beauty, but ultimately a reflection of his very own, beautiful soul.

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Cris Cordero, July 18, 2024