Now that's a handy man! - PHOTO

But in fact they are illustrations by an artist trying to get a grip on the meaning of life.In a series of surreal shots, multimedia artist Babak Hosseiny uses hands to portray each subject's wishes, hopes and fears.He was inspired by philosopher of logic Ludwig Wittgenstein, who said that if you have hands, you can be certain an external world exists.The notoriously cryptic thinker introduced his book On Certainty with the theory: 'If you do know that here is one hand, we'll grant you all the rest.'It is common sense, he said, to suggest that if something is physically there, then it exists.Hosseiny imagined a series of situations, in which hands become the physical embodiments of obstacles.Teaming up with photographer Jeffrey Vanhoutte, he manipulated shots into surreal philosophical questions.One man has a neck made of interlaced fingers, to suggest he struggles to speak freely, while another has fingers inside his mouth, perhaps shutting him up.A pair of hands are clamped on the shoulders of one well-built subject, who may need some restraint.In one shot, a man with his back to the camera has hands reaching out behind him, perhaps suggesting a fear of the unknown.Eyes are obscured in two shots - with two full hands covering one man's eyes, while another has his head pulled back by fingers gripping his eye sockets.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az