Austin 

Alfred Conteh’s portrait presents a young man, Austin, with hands clasped, fingers splayed in a gesture that resonates across cultures and time. This hand gesture, with its echoes of ancient blessings and invocations, reminds us how symbols persist, transforming through history. We might recall the 'manus dei' in early Christian art, a divine hand reaching down from the heavens, or even the mudras of Buddhist iconography, each a symbolic gesture imbued with specific meaning. Here, the fingers may gesture to ancient spiritual connections, reflecting a cultural memory passed down through generations, subtly altered and re-contextualized. Such gestures act on a subconscious level, evoking emotions and memories tied to our collective past. The splayed fingers remind us that the evolution of symbols is never linear; they resurface and adapt, carrying echoes of prior meanings while acquiring new significance.