A Lifetime of Hands

Archipel & the Millers

You can read so much from someone’s hands. Do you ever do that? Staring at someone’s hands and imagining a whole life story behind them? We certainly do.

What do the skin, the crooked joints, the faint network of lines reveal? Are they true working hands, or untouched and flawless? By placing hands so clearly in the spotlight, you as a viewer become keenly aware of your own pair. Take a look—what do they have to tell you?

During GLOW, we will see countless hands from CELLO (on the De Volharding windmill) and from Archipel (on the side wall of De Zonnewende). The hands we see on the buildings are a meeting with the people who live, work, and love there. A brief introduction that ensures you connect with one another in a simple yet powerful way.

In September, Toos spoke with residents, their children, and grandchildren. They visited the temporary studio in the foyer of Archipel, sat down in a chair, with their hands resting on a cushion. Toos started the camera and the conversation. A conscious moment. People sat in the chair for 5 to 10 minutes, from which Toos selected one minute for her reportage. All these videos together form the work A Lifetime of Hands.

Honoring your hands can bring you closer to yourself, but also to others. Take a look at your hands and see what they have to tell you.