A Gesture, A Wave
A tortured soul reaches out from the past
It’s obviously a hand, but in such a distorted form that you need to bend your perception a little to work it out. It helps when you realise that the thumb is at top right, with the palm showing green below. The fingers are arched and splayed away from us, with a phenomenal tension that suggests some kind of seizure.
It raises many questions. Might the hand be reaching forward, or caught in the action of slapping, or swatting? Is it held in supplication or surrender, shock or awe? That’s the thing with hands, they are expressive and communicative of a language all their own. But however explicit or implicit we might think the gesture is, there is still cause for debate when seen out of context like this. What is the other hand doing? Where is the rest of the body? What is the corresponding expression on the face? Surprise? Contempt? Fear? Surely, it would be something dramatic.
The only clues we have for this disembodied paw is the near vertical line that seems to run behind it. Is that describing the side of the body? If so, is it the body belonging to the hand, or some other person’s? It could be the side of a tree with the hand reaching around from behind, or a curtain or even a sheet. It appears that the arm to which the hand is attached is curving away behind the line, hidden out of…
