Photographs by Margaret Becker

Aside from our faces, our hands are probably the most emotive parts of our bodies. They’re also capable of an incredibly wide range of movement and articulation: gesturing, caressing, reaching, pointing, tapping, walking, clinging, scratching, grasping, clamping, pinching, clawing, digging, pushing, pulling, punching. Our hands really are amazing little performers.

Now think back to your childhood. How often did you use your hands to create some sort of creature, whether it was singing nursery songs, playing charades, or creating shadow puppets on the wall? Our hands became these “other” beings, at times almost unpredictable and otherworldly.

This portrait series explores the possibility that our hands, with all their dexterity and power, could suddenly turn against us and make prisoners of their own bodies. The hands in these photographs are unexpected, cunning, and full of mischief and bloodlust. ◥