Ângelo de Sousa films his left hand using his right hand, in a very magnified almost microscopic manner.

The fingers are the organ with the most nerves in the human body. They inform us about touch, the connection to matter. The fingers tell us about the world, its texture, its variations. Touching matter is important, because it is the definitive proof of what is real – apart from the palate, all the other senses can reveal a reality that is not, because today, with technology, the little fragments of stories that we find, can be true but not real. Touching helps, it connects you to the real – you can’t touch from a distance.

Touch is a need, putting hands back into matter and subtracting from it to shape things in the confrontation between idea and matter. Matter, always matter, living or dead. All that is real is matter, truth is something else. Truth is an idea, so it can be false and escape the real; but not touch, as touch reveals what actually is real, what truly exists and what we in effect change through action. Changing truths is more challenging, and not everyone can do it. That’s why we have hands, to be able to do, to change with form, with action, “doing it gets it done”. We need the closeness of touching matter to know what is real, because it helps truths become less false. We need our hands and fingers.

The fingers are the organ with the most nerves in the human body. Only the clitoris and glans surpass them.