Hand for Scale ( 2020-present) is an ongoing body of images culled from Google, Twitter, Reddit, IMGur, and other websites. “Manually” retrieved using the search term “Hand for Scale”, the images form a conversation spoken between cameraphone, body, and object. For aeons we’ve been seeing how we measure up to our outer world—the height of a horse, the length of a football pitch, the depth of the sea. Photography bears both the privilege and the burden of its evidentiary history, and we measure, just as we photograph, in the hope to convey, to describe, to translate. We take a selfie to affirm I saw this, I ate that, look at this thing, look at me. The internet, a space fed on and bred for the hyperbolic, kindles our obsession with the tiny or titanic. We marvel at said object, space, or absence and want to share it. We place our hand gingerly in front of the lens, pinch and tap the beveled glass screen, an assertion—and insertion—of oneself as author, photographer made visible. This second edition includes an updated front and back cover plus 50 new images/pages. The second edition features a custom clear comb spine printed with white ink. Max Gavrich is an artist and educator currently based in the Bay Area. He works primarily with photography, video, and collected cultural imagery, addressing notions of mimicry, visual repetition, and documentary. Designed by Nick Massarelli 154 Pages, 5.5 × 7.5 inchesPublished by Pharmacy Books(Second Edition of 100)ISBN 979-8-9986449-5-5
