Hand Portraits: Lifelines

WE ALL MOULD ONE ANOTHER’S DREAMS.
WE ALL HOLD EACH OTHER’S FRAGILE HOPES IN OUR HANDS.
ANONYMOUS

I’ve been photographing hands portraits since 2002. It started with friends and family but has grown into a wider project photographing those I meet, work with and live beside.

I love how expressive hands are, that they are intimate and personal – ordinary even – and yet at the same time they point strongly to our common humanity. Photographing and exhibiting hand portraits is one way in which I choose to acknowledge, honour and remember encounters and conversations with others. It’s my way of pausing and saying ‘this has mattered to me’. (More information about why I photograph hands is available here).

I gather these images in my everyday, through Learning Journeys and other discrete projects. See my book for examples of my work.