MANUS (PROTECTIVE), 2016

“I am aware that my hands are always in front of me, so maybe it was inevitable that they would become a subject for my work. The Manus series was created after I cut out a tracing of my hands and forearms, pinned them to my studio wall, and kept looking at them for months as I read and thought about hands as an emblem of human existence and activity. In the prehistoric North American "Hopewell" culture, there is a well-known and beautiful example of a hand, cut from mica. This was the inspiration to use mica for this series. Initially I envisioned them as apparitions from a post-human future--temporary, fading away, powerless, apologetic (Crossed, Protective, Resigned). As I moved through the series the hands became more active, political and about race. In Cry, in which the hands are positioned to amplify the voice, I used a dark amber mica. Reversal of Fortune is based on a painting by Caravaggio called The Fortune Teller in which a wealthy and naive young man is having his palm read by a seemingly innocent girl. While he flirtatiously gazes into her eyes she slips the ring off his finger. In my version it is the lighter-toned hand that plays the deceitful role.”
—Mark Calderon