This video poetically documents the craftsmanship of making a left arm and hand from marble. The arm that is being carved is a copy of the part of Mary's arm of Michelangelo's Pietà that was destroyed during the attack by Laszlo Toth in 1972. This sculpture is made by experts at the Studi D'Arte Cave Michelangelo in Carrara. They use a life-size copy of the Pietà, which is in their workshop.
The video shows slowly, step by step, how hands create another hand by carving, chiselling, grinding and polishing it from a block of white Carrara marble.
This work is part of the overarching investigation entitled Pietà, A Reconsideration of the Gesture.
2023 © rinihurkmans
Activity Involving Skill in Making Things by Hand
2020
HDV
26:23 min, loop, sound
Video Works
