A mural featuring a man in overalls and a cap, gesturing with his hands. Surrounding him are a train, eagle, highland cows, stag, wind turbines, and castles, set against a blue sky.

🤝 AI is back in the headlines and still can’t get hands right.

In this month’s blog, our Research Associate Helen Victoria Murray looks at Glasgow’s arts community response to a proposed AI-generated mural.

Read the full blog to explore the debate: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/ai-s...

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Podcast Episode · Historical Friction · 12/22/2025 · 56m

Need a Yuletide treat? Check out this new episode of Historical Friction (@historicalfriction.bsky.social) on The Muppet Christmas Carol! Hosted by me, @aaprocter.bsky.social, and @helenvmurray.bsky.social!

✋ This 1845 daguerreotype captured the branded hand of Jonathan Walker - marked ‘SS’ for ‘slave stealer’ after he tried to help enslaved people escape Florida. Intended as punishment, it became an abolitionist symbol, though his story often overshadowed those of the enslaved people he sought to aid.

As age and illness change the artist's relationship to sex, how then does it change her reception?

Many thanks to the editors of Sontag Mag for working with me to bring this poem into the world. Head over there to read AND listen.

This painting by Tracey Emin has lived in my head since the first time I saw it. Is it a textual painting? Or a poem elevated to a scream? Her art career is plagued by the same problem confessional poets face. The assumption - almost an accusation - that a work of art is direct autobiography.

2024 painting by Tracey Emin. Text in dripping red paint on a white and beige background reads I DON'T WANT TO HAVE SEX BECAUSE MY BODY FEELS DEAD

You can now read my ekphrastic poem 'I don't want to have sex because my body feels dead' in Vol. 6 of Sontag Mag.

sontagmag.com/sontag-mag-v...

A vintage prosthetic arm lies on a textured surface. The metal hand, detailed with joints, is palm-facing up. A strap extends from the arm's base. Historic, mechanical.

⚔️ Götz von Berlichingen lost his hand to a cannonball in 1504 and commissioned an iron prosthesis with hinged, lockable fingers for use in battle.

He later adopted a more advanced model - one of the earliest functioning mechanical prosthetic hands - which he used across his military career.

Portrait engraving of a man seated, holding a pencil and notebook. He wears a suit with a high collar and has sideburns. In the background is a framed painting of a ship at sea.

🌎 What happens when a travel writer navigates the world through touch?

This month’s blog explores the journeys of James Holman, the self-described ‘Blind Traveller’, and how his haptic encounters challenged the visual conventions of travel writing.

www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/the-...

Without downloading any new pics, describe your vibe for today using an image from your gallery

Wishing I could resurrect my golden twitter age on this platform. What I lost in time, I gained in pals.

We're so back

A sculpture maquette of a hand, photographed in close up. Text reads '3 weeks to go! CfP Deadline 22 Sept'

3 weeks to go until the deadline for abstracts for our conference The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity (8-9 Jan 2026).

Are you getting yours ready?✍

Send abstracts and bios to victorianhand@fashionarts.ac.uk by 22 September 2025. We can't wait to hear from you!

Check out the call for papers for The Victorian Hand project's conference, January 2026. We can't wait to hear from you!!

We are really very excited indeed by this event. If you share our interest in the cultural significance, symbolic meaning, and lived experience of the human hand either in the past or today (or both!) then please do think about putting in an abstract. And please sprad the word to your networks!

This is a thrilling opportunity for interdisciplinary research exchange. I am so excited to be co-organising @victorianhand.bsky.social's conference.

Whether you're a historian, a maker, an activist, a healer - we want to hear from you!

Week 1 of working on @victorianhand.bsky.social and having a wonderful time! This is a dream of a project. So excited to share further updates soon!