HANDS

Gilles Deleuze suggests that the human being exists, more than anything else, in the hands. Hands from the streets, the markets, the villages, the home, and everyday life; the hands of the old and the young, women and men, strangers and familiar faces. These hands are not merely parts of the body; they are archives of life. Their lines, scars, stains, darkness, fingernails, and traces of labor are silent accounts of the years that have passed over the body. The hands of a worker, a vendor, a farmer, a passerby, or a neighbor each carry their own personal history. a history that may be read in the face, but appears in the hands more directly, more nakedly. Everyone stands before the camera in the same simple gesture: open hands. This repetition turns difference into resemblance. The hands no longer belong to the “other”; they are human hands. Whenever someone held out their hands toward me for a photograph, it felt as though they were undressing, becoming exposed, defenseless, trusting. Hands that have built, touched, caressed, held, given, worked, been wounded, and, throughout all these years, carried the weight of life without ever speaking. Ultimately, “Hands” is not about hands; it is about human presence, the quiet presence of the human being in the world. It is about the distance between the “self” and the “other,” about trust, intimacy, and the histories and lived experiences carried by human beings, and the moment when that distance disappears within a shared frame. Here, every hand is a portrait; and together, these portraits form an image of a society whose faces are different, yet whose gestures make them alike in something primordial and human: Open hands, defenseless, unnamed, and ready to face the world. Because it is through these hands that we touch the world. And perhaps most importantly, if you find in this series a deeper or different meaning than what I have expressed here, that meaning reflects your own profound way of seeing life and humanity. I am grateful that you are the viewer of these photographs. With respect, Taher Artist Bio: Ali Taheri known as "Taher" 🌴 Poet, Photographer & Filmmaker Short films : "Loneliness is a garden with one tree" 2019 "The gods are thirsty" 2022 "Sixth day, late winter" 2023