The Hand Medal Project - 2020
The Hand Medal Project was a heartwarming initiative of Iris Eichenberg and Jimena Ríos. The aim of the project was to express our gratitude and appreciation to health care workers for all their amazing effort and work during the pandemic of 2020. Infused with the gratitude of the ex-voto and the tribute of a medal, these hands have been made and collected since April 2020.
The design is drawn from a historical argentinian ex-voto. Authorship is secondary the medals are not about the maker, but about the receiver. To underscore the unity of this collaborative effort, participants copy a template of the hand, meant to be simple enough for all skill levels, and easily replicated into whatever metal is available. This singular hand design creates a collective voice, reinforcing the shared gratitude that is the project’s mission.
Thousands of jewellers around the world joined the project and made thousands of hands that were given to health care workers in November 2020. I also joined and made these 41 hands sawn out of zinc, etched, numbered and spray painted in different shades. I bought ribbons and little stamps with numbers. Numbering was important as each jeweller had their own number in order to be able to track back the maker (the numbers and to which jeweller it belongs is to be found on the project’s website). Each hand got my number ‘2687’ hammered into it. After numbering I worked on the surface. Then attached the ribbon and a pin. The ready hand medals were collected by the Hand Keeper of my country - The Netherlands and spread among health care workers in different hospitals. If you would like to know more about the project, would like to see the artists that took part and some moments in the News, please visit the website of the project. Here you can also track back which number belonged to which maker. www.handmedalproject.com
First step was gluing the template on a piece of sheet metal.
Made wholes for the ribbons and started sawing.
Hands drying after etching.
A hand numbered and etched.
Ethced and numberd hands.
Waiting to be spray painted in different colours.
Spray painted, different layers.
The hands with ribbons. One side spray painted, the other is left grey with the number.
I was very touched to get a thank you note from Esther, one of the health care workers, who received one of the hands I made. I did not expect to hear anything as the whole project is not about the makers but the receivers, but still it was very nice to know, that one of my hands is in Breda and is appreciated.