Photo: A. Huddleston, The Kyoudai Press

MOTHER TONGUE

a book of poetry and painting by Mimi Kunz

published by The Kyoudai Press, 2024

In Mother Tongue, Mimi Kunz tells the story of her daughter’s birth and first year of life. Through her poetry and painting, she meditates on the question “So what’s it like, this love?” As she shares her experience of being a young mother, and her moments of marvel, fear, and laughter, a revelation occurs. The body of mother and child are discovered as our first language, our mother tongue.

The story of the book

Reviews

“Mimi Kunz’s work captures moments
and emotions that are deeply personal, and yet so universal, it allows us to connect to ourselves and each other on a deeper level.”

Idealists Quarterly

“This collection beautifully captures the symbiotic relationship between mother and baby in the early stages of life. Tender poems & delicate images combine to create something more than the sum of their parts in this dazzling reflection on motherhood.”

Hannah Van Hove

“Here we find beauty through simplicity, through the confessional understatement of the heartfelt poems, and the sublime, minimal graphic quality of the painted lines. In Kunz’s unique artistic language, her words come to life and dance onthe page.”

Paul Stephenson

Press

Mimi Kunz: Mother Tongue, podcast, Laura Godfrey-Isaacs, Maternal Journal, S2E3, 2025

Interview with artist Mimi Kunz, Interview and book excerpt, Porridge Magazine, 2025

The Body as Our Universal Mother Tongue — A Conversation with Mimi Kunz, Interview, Christina Wunder, Tint Journal, 2025

Mimi Kunz: “So what’s it like, this love?”, Interview, Femke van Son, The Brussels Review, 2025

Art, poetry and Motherhood: Book launch and exhibition by Brussels artist MImi Kunz, Alia Papageorgiou, The Bulletin, 2024