Giant Hand

Geyserville, California

The 7.5 ton Giant Hand was created by environmental artist Larry Kirkland. Its proper title is "Agraria," though it has been referred to as "The Severed Hand" (because, honestly, we get it, and the stump end has a rougher cut). Agraria is 12 feet long, expertly whittled from Carrara marble by master carvers in Torrano, Italy.

The design at first suggests (to us) a friendly, generic insurance company logo of safety and well-being. The hand is accessible on all sides, and invites visitors to lean in and snuggle with the palm and fingers. The artist's intent was to depict a more hard-working hand, though -- one that has scattered seeds, as a tribute to the region's soil tillers and toilers, including Native America tribes, settlers, and newer immigrants.

The hand was originally installed in Santa Rosa's downtown mall in December 1996. In 2020 Agraria's prominent Carrara marble whiteness acted as a magnet for BLM activists, who painted it black. The mall owner had cleaned off anti-police graffiti earlier that same year. In 2024 it was announced that the Giant Hand, no longer welcome, would be removed to create parking for a P.F. Chang's, and in May 2025 it was shipped to Geyserville.