THE HAND INVENTORY PROJECT: A PHOTOGRAPHIC AND EVENT SERIES, 2015
"Our culture is anti-hand, it thinks it's better to work with your head. Everybody aspires to go to college, so they don't have to work with their hands, yet hands are a source of intelligence. You divorce yourself from a part of your intelligence without them... As a little kid, I saw my grandfather draw from across the room. I saw harmony between eye/brain, hand and heart/spirit, I was astonished." Richard Tuttle
View the photograph collection here
Images from the Exhibition and Event Series
The Hand Inventory Project is a daily visual meditation on the awesomeness of our hands and all that they do creatively, spiritually, sexually, expressively, and more. Each day a photograph of an individual's hand(s) is added to the project blog with a bit of writing by that individual about their hands. The Hand Inventory Project was initiated and exhibited at Amos Eno Gallery in November, 2015. The original polaroid photographs (approximately 200) were displayed alongside wall space covered with blackboard paint where participants were encouraged to write about their hands. As individuals visited the gallery, they were encouraged to have their hands photographed and added to the wall of polaroids. At the end of the exhibition month, participants could choose to take the photograph of their hands. The interactive exhibition took place alongside a month long, donation-based event and workshop series that included:
The Humble Handjob: A workshop for people of all genders and orientations, led by sex educator Haylin Belay. Featuring a pop-up sex toy shop from SHAG, Brooklyn.
HANDS: An evening of stories about hands by Queer Memoir storytelling group.
Finger Painting for kids and grownups.
A Litany of Lovers: remembered only by their hands: An interactive performance by Elizabeth Weitzen.
Talk to the Hand: An evening of spoken words with Armando Jaramillo Garcia, Rob Crawford, and Stu Watson.