Figure 1 -Hand silhouette, IPhone photograph, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

I took the image of Figure 1 a few weeks back. It is an image in a store window that is trans-illuminated – essentially a shadowbox. The hand is meant to be a backdrop to a collection of clothing and hand bags. I have chosen it to be the subject of the photograph. I like the elegance of the pose and the purity of the black and white. It is quite literally a “black and white photograph.” It is striking that a hand alone can portray a dramatic sense of animation and beauty. The absence of color and, well, the rest of the body creates a hint of mystery about it. We wonder what exactly is the meaning of the pose. And at another level, we look down at our own hands to figure out exactly how the thumb had to be placed to be absent from the shadow. You will notice also that there is a certain ambiguity of the edges. You know that they are sharp, but somehow they seem not quite right, as if they are fuzzed out. This I suspect is a combination of optical illusion and digital aliasing. It seems like the hand of a ballerina or more precisely of classical Indian dance, of which I learn that there are eight traditional forms. The eyes are meant to be the “window to the soul,” but here the expressing hand takes over.