Alberto Giacometti Invisible Object (1934)

Hands Holding the Void Giacometti's bronze Invisible Object or Hands Holding the Void— What does she hold? Some say it was a bird that had flown away. Since birds symbolize the soul, it's fitting that her hands hold the invisible for it's the unseen supports the seen as root and sap nourish a tree while the air we breathe sustains our life. What is the Void?— Is it the black hole where no light escapes or the white hole out of which this whole universe was born or the worm hole connecting black and white much like the Tao circle of yin and yang breathing emptiness between Heaven & Earth— dark matter and dark energy whose wings or wind give rise to the ten thousand things. Once a smart lad tried to stump the village's wise woman with a baby bird in his hands— "If she says it's alive, I'll crush it dead. If she says it's dead, I'll let it fly away." A crowd gathered by the wise woman's hut when the lad asked "Is my bird dead or alive?" Seeing the boy's smirk, the wise woman smiled and replied simply— "It is in your hands." So the Void or "Soul-Bird" is in our hands— since from the first all is void— abiding nowhere let our mind work on with joy to create everything afresh and new.         — Peter Y. Chou             Mountain View, 2-20-2013

Alberto Giacometti                         Hands Holding the Void (1934)