Pan-American Highway, National Geographic Book: Desert Hand

Giant fingers and thumb of a hand sculpture reach up in a desert surrounding under blue sky.

Fingers of a giant sculpted hand reach out of the relentless heat of the Atacama desert sands along the Pan American highway in Chile. Mano de Desierto is a work of Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal, who used the human figure to express injustice loneliness, sorrow and torture. Its exaggerated size emphasizes human vulnerability and helplessness. Built in 1980, the sculpture stands 11 meters or 36 feet tall.