The Dust Between Our Nails and Fingertips

The project features a custom CNC stone carver in an anthropomorphic frame, posing as a creature suspended between past and present. Influenced by quarry stone cutting techniques, a custom diamond tool produces markings akin to those created by a human fingertip, slowly etching out a stone slab, turning solid to dust, and leaving marks of labor.

Engraved Endurance

Handprints are engraved deep in the bedding on the rugged sandstone cliffs of Wyoming's White Mountains. A local myth tells the story of these three-dimensional petroglyphs: it is said that these marks are made by generations of Plains and Great Basin Tribes women who grasp the cliffside while giving birth to their children. Inscribed through pain and endurance, they connect the past to the future in a rite to motherhood—an invisible force binding generations.

Petroglyphs of Labor

Mountains and boulders contain vast, enormous emotive force. Beyond their sublime presence, hardened cliffs carry echoes of ancient voices and distant generations. These petroglyphs make apparent the marks of growth and life that came before us, making the invisible and forgotten—eroded by time—tangible once again.

At the other end of this earthly thread lies the landfill: the mound of goods we have amassed through industrial mass production. We are overwhelmed by the art of abundance, which places endless products within arm’s reach. While we understand the consequences of mass production, such as excessive waste and embodied carbon, what remains unseen is the invisible labor woven into each item. How many hands and eyes does it take to shape a single cup before we automate the process? Each is a silent testament to the countless workers hidden behind the screen or machinery.