Witnesses

One hundred handprints of one hundred people born in each of the years of the twentieth century, 1900-1999.

Oil on paper. 100 pieces each 46x46 cm. 2000.

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Galilee Chapel, Durham Cathedral

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Photo: Mike Hein-Hartmann

All the participants, with the obvious exception of the very young whose lives will be shaped by the century to come, will have borne witness, if only vicariously, to events during their lifetimes which have claimed the lives of millions, instigated huge social changes, infiltrated the collective consciousness or seized the public imagination - witnessed the turning points of the times. Many have borne witness to some of these events in the most direct way, having been present or directly participating. The work is a continuum, through 25 millennia of human history, of human beings leaving their ‘marks’ behind them. From the first anonymous handprints left deep within subterranean caves by our palaeolithic ancestors (hands which could have contained the genetic blueprint for any one of us) through to the continuing practice today; from the sacred sites of primitive peoples to the play in children’s nurseries.

"Born out of stardust, we have coalesced here and now, together. In a brief blink of time our lives have overlapped. I hope the work will stand as a unique chronicle to our collective participation at the end of one Millennium and the beginning of another."

Accompanying catalogue.