SACRED PROFANE

A visual study of hands expressing creed and conviction. 

Hands convey emotions, gestures, convictions and creeds. Hands are on the realm of profane. Hands till, toil, reap and clear. They cook and paint, type, and nurse, gratify, cleanse, kill and maim. 

Hands also pray and heal. They baptise, bless, confer and spell. They participate in rituals. A ritual marks the crossing of the boundary, a movement from profane to sacred. Ritual allows the sanctification of the mundane. Through ritual mundane is cleared from its material connotations.

On the realm of sacred bread becomes flesh, wine turns into blood. In the world of profane bread stays bread. Enchantment fades. The grey line that separates the sacred from the mundane is shifting, negotiable.

folded hands against a dark cloak
fingers crossed on a lap against a dark background, metallic sparkles on the forefront
hands crossed knuckle side confronting the viewer, in the background a dark velvet
Hands in a prayer, black robe in the background
pair of hands hanging downwards against a dark background
hands lying on a dark cloth with some metallic sparkles on the foreground
clenched fists against a dark robe, in the background
fingers crossed against a black robe
Supplicated hands praying against a dark cloak
long exposure photograph of moving hands photographed against a dark dress
Using Format