Debbie Gibbs – Hands Talk

Hands are powerful communicators. They speak without words through gesture, touch, movement, and connection. They can welcome, comfort, celebrate, protect, protest, reach out, or restrict.

In Hands Talk, I explore the many ways hands communicate and connect us to one another. Sign language offers the most literal form of communication, while gestures such as a handshake, a fist bump, a raised thumb, or an open hand carry meanings we recognize almost instinctively. Other works explore hands reaching toward one another, joining together, holding, and offering support.

The diverse hands throughout these works reflect the beauty of our differences and the richness those differences bring to our shared world. They also acknowledge that communication and connection can be complicated when our experiences, histories, and perspectives differ.

My process begins with paper. I create, collect, paint, cut, tear, and layer papers, allowing patterns, textures, images, and words to become part of each hand. The materials themselves become a language—one that changes as pieces are brought together.

Some works in this exhibition speak to freedom, restriction, conflict, and the challenges we face in connecting across differences. Others speak to hope, love, peace, and solidarity. Together, they ask us to consider both what our hands communicate and what our hands can do.

What will we choose to say—and what will we choose to do—with our hands?