Between Delicate and Violent

2023

15min

Artists call it “hand memory,” knowledge that isn’t stored in the brain but in the body, and is activated when you start painting, sculpting or drawing. Şirin Bahar Demirel sets out to get an understanding of it. She wonders what memories are passed on through the hands, and whether we can read the aggressive nature of a painter from their brushwork, or the desires of a textile artist from their embroidery.