In today's world, virtual online experiences have been profoundly shaped by technological advances and the isolating realities of life during the pandemic. This shift has diminished our connection to both people and the physical world, reducing the frequency and intimacy of human touch.

Drawing inspiration from the ancient handprints in Argentina's "Cueva de las Manos" (Cave of Hands), Tan Mu references a thermographic image of a hand in her painting Touch (2022). The thermographic image, captured through technology, visually records variations in temperature, blending the human body's warmth with the cool detachment of scientific observation. As creatures inherently drawn to intimacy and personal connection, humans yearn for the tactile and the tangible. Touch captures this growing disconnection in human interaction—a byproduct of technological advancement that increasingly replaces physical exchange. Through this work, Tan Mu examines the hand as a timeless symbol of connection and creation, as well as a universal metaphor for exploring the unknown.

Q: Why did you choose a thermographic image as the basis for your painting? What significance does temperature mapping hold in relation to human touch and disconnection?

Tan Mu: I chose a thermographic image because it translates bodily warmth into color through a technological lens. Each hue corresponds to a specific temperature, transforming a tactile sensation into visual information. During the pandemic, as daily life shifted heavily toward virtual interactions, physical contact and bodily presence became increasingly absent. Touch was replaced by screens, and warmth was reduced to data.

In this context, thermographic imaging became a powerful metaphor. It visualizes heat without touch, presence without proximity. In the painting, the warm yellows and oranges of the hand contrast sharply with the deep blue background. This opposition reflects what was obscured or lost during that period: intimacy, physical connection, and the immediacy of human contact. Temperature mapping becomes a stand-in for emotional distance, revealing how technology mediates and reshapes our most fundamental human experiences.

Q: What inspired you to connect the ancient handprints of the Cueva de las Manos with contemporary thermographic technology? How do these two forms of imagery speak to one another?

Tan Mu: The handprints in the Cueva de las Manos are among the earliest traces of human presence. Created through a stencil process, they record the physical act of placing a hand against a surface and leaving behind a negative image. These marks preserve a moment of touch across thousands of years. To me, they represent a timeless human impulse to connect, to assert presence, and to be remembered.

Thermographic imaging, by contrast, belongs entirely to the present. It converts bodily warmth into digital color, translating physical sensation into abstract data. By bringing these two images together, I wanted to emphasize the continuity of the hand as a symbol. Despite radical changes in technology and social conditions, the hand remains central to how we experience the world. The dialogue between these images reflects what it means to be human: our enduring need to touch, to feel, and to leave traces of ourselves, even as the tools we use continue to evolve.

Q: What drew you to the hand as a symbol of connection and creation?

Tan Mu: The hand is one of the most direct extensions of human presence. It is how we touch, create, communicate, and understand the world. Even a simple gesture, such as a handshake, carries deep social meaning. During the pandemic, when physical contact was restricted, the hand took on an intensified symbolic weight for me. It came to represent both connection and its absence.

At the same time, the hand embodies resilience and creativity. Even in isolation, it continues to work, to build, to express, and to record experience. It carries knowledge forward and leaves marks that outlast the moment of their creation. This duality made the hand a powerful subject through which to explore both loss and persistence.

Q: How did your personal experience of isolation during the pandemic influence the themes and execution of this work?

Tan Mu: In March 2020, during the lockdown, I began painting at home as physical movement and social interaction became limited. Temperature became a central marker of health, and technologies such as thermal imaging and AI-based monitoring were widely deployed in public spaces. These tools reduced the body to data points, reinforcing a sense of distance and surveillance.

This atmosphere of isolation deeply shaped the making of Touch. The soft colors, blurred edges, and lack of sharp boundaries suggest something receding or dissolving, mirroring the erosion of physical closeness during that time. The pandemic felt like an enclosed space, almost like a cave. Through this work, I wanted to document that moment, drawing a parallel between contemporary isolation and the ancient impulse to leave traces of human presence. Like the handprints in the Cueva de las Manos, Touch serves as a record of a specific moment in human history, shaped by separation yet driven by the need for connection.