A majestic musing on a mournful topic, this 36-foot high sculpture of a human hand is located in a remote area of Chile’s Atacama Desert. It was made by the acclaimed Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal in 1992 and is intended to represent human helplessness and vulnerability (not waving but drowning springs to mind). Titled Mano del Desierto, or “hand of the desert”, the artwork is carefully constructed to look as if it’s made from the sand that engulfs it, but it is in fact composed of iron and cement—a monument deliberately more enduring than its subject.
