Experimental hands #1-3
Here are the first three hands in the series. The intent behind #1-3 is to create a talking point around the idea of beauty and body image and public perception. I have adapted three objects with a wrist fitting for an arm socket. I met up with Holly to talk about and try out all three. Here’s what we discovered:
1 Wooden articulated hand - what does it feel like to have a hand made of wood, visually/ tactilely? Wooden hands are great to fiddle with (and occupy your other hand!) and the ball and socket wrist has a certain floppiness to it which adds elegance when you gesture and is simply just nice when you place your hand on the table or your knee and it nicely conforms rather than sticking out parallel to your arm… you could use a nicer piece of wood like mahogany too and even extend it to the socket.
2 Plaster cast hand - concealment vs celebration. To what extent should armwear attempt to recreate humanness? How could you do this in a pleasing way? This hand both possess the exact form and skin detail of the other hand as belonging to the body, and expresses it’s artificiality in the choice of material as a crafted and sculptural object. Sadly the three middle fingers broke off in transit (ouch) so Holly never got to try this one but I’m casting a pinky in stronger ceramic which I’ll post up soon.
3 Diamante hook - how can you transform the connotations of surgical steel? How will people react to a bejewelled hook? This was certainly the most eye-catching of the three. Someone commented that it created an immediate positive impression with a certain ‘wow’ factor. However I was surprised learn that others didn’t get it so perhaps it needs to communicate what it is or it’s relation to the body more.
