The HANDS Project

by Marc Mennigmann

 

About the HANDS Project

« The story of music through the story of the hands that make it »

When a photographer takes a portrait of a musician, he most likely pictures the face or the musician with his instrument. “HANDS” is going another way. I picture the part of the musician that has a significant part in making the tone, playing the note, or initiating the sound – his hands.

Project Goals

1. Print A Book

My current plan is to release a book with a huge selection of pictures. But as I did not found a publisher interested in this heavy project, I’ll release an THE HANDS BOOK ONLINE on Dec 1, 2024!

Here is the link to THE HANDS BOOK ONLINE

2. Prints & Exhibitions

I am always working on large printed versions (35″ x 20″) of selected hands that are exposed in galleries and music related places like jazz clubs and concert venues.

The collection of prints is currently more than 40 pictures, most with an accompanying live shot. If you are interested to expose them in your location please contact me.

For some high-res examples of the HANDS pictures, please visit the gallery.

3. Grow The Archive

The list of participating musicians is already way beyond 200. I am constantly looking for concerts that I like to visit, meet the artists and shoot their hands. So when you are out there on the road, close to my location, you might get a mail soon…

For a complete list of the participating artists please visit this page.

Carla Bley's HANDS

T-Shirts Available

The most iconic HANDS photo as artwork on a Classic Jersey T-Shirt made from 100% Combed Organic Cotton. The front side shows the hands of Bakithi Kumalo and Ana Orias Balderas. Backside shows the hands motto. Men’s M, L, XL and woman’s S, M, L available.

The incredibly marvellous
HANDS T-Shirt

Subscribe to the
HANDS Project Newsletter.

HANDS Mailing List

Join the HANDS mailing list to receive the latest news and updates of this project.

Maximum 2 emails per month, not more. Promised…!

You can sign up to the list using this form on MailChimp: http://eepurl.com/bR5Zvr

About The Photographer

Marc Mennigmann

Marc Mennigmann

Photographer, Musician, Entrepreneur, whatever...

Marc Mennigmann worked as a session musician for piano and Chapman Stick in the 1990s and founded two companies which both still exist.

He started photography in the new millennium using medium format film and a Lomo camera, switching to digital years later.

Currently, his main interest is taking portraits and shooting musicians on and behind the stage.

You can contact Marc on this page.

You still want more?

Gallery

Here you can see some high-res versions of the HANDS pictures.

Artists

A complete list of the artists already participating the HANDS project.

Blog

News related to this project. Never miss any new artists added.

Do you want to put some HANDS on your walls?

I am happy to announce that a collection of HANDS is now available as gallery grade prints on aluminium-dibond. Please jump over to my friends from Two Hands Media and have a look.

INSIDE SCOFIELD

I met Joerg Steineck, who is the man behind the INSIDE SCOFIELD documentary, when taking pictures of Johns HANDS at the Jazzclub in Münster. He filmed the process of my personal documentary of the hands of musicians, and I am happy to support his project, a...

The new HANDS poster – huge gallery prints available!

I made a few prints of this HANDS poster with a new selection of musicians. The print is gallery grade on 280g paper at the size of 841 × 1189 mm (33.1 × 46.8 inches). The price is EUR 149,- plus shipping. Sofa not included. 😉 You can order your copy in my BandCamp...

So similar but so different! “AIR musicians” by Hajo Müller

Hajo Müller, a photographer friend of mine, started a new project a while ago called "AIR musicians". His idea is basically to let professional musicians play their instrument, but without the instrument, similar to the air guitar contests. This implies a considerable...

Kloster Bentlage – Pictures of an exhibition

The HANDS prints are perfectly exposed on the walls of the Kloster Bentlage near Rheine in Germany. A big thank you to the staff there for their great support and efforts to make this look so good. The exhibition will be there until August 4, 2019.