Aprototools
The source material for this image is a set of tool identification flash cards. The key for the names of the tools is missing from the set and I was struck by the fact that even as someone familiar with shop tools I was at a loss for many of the names. It occurred to me that as the population has become more specialized and fewer of us make stuff with our hands a working knowledge of shop tools is something that fewer people possess. The “tools” in this image are the result of recombining parts of known tools to produce tools that have no function, or very limited function, but at first glance appear to be a taxonomy of sorts—tools that belong to some obscure trade or another.
Aprototools, 2002/2008, 18x23 giclée print, edition of 10.
Aprototools (detail), 2002/2008.