Hands II

This series of ceramic sculptures were created during my Harriet Hale Woolley artist residency at the Fondation des États-Unis, Paris. The pieces combine fired ceramic representations of hands made out of rope with the actual physical rope used to make the sculptures. In the artworks, representations of hemp ropes and knots take the place of the forearms and veins leading to each hand. The ropes create connections between the body’s extremities and joints. Cast in hard, fired clay, the ropes are stiff and immobilized; the knots cannot be undone, the hands are stuck with the bodies they are attached to. Condemned to rest in an outreached position, they eternally stretch out, seeking to connect with someone or something else, beyond themselves.