The scorched moonscape of Atacama stretches for hundreds of miles on both sides of the Pan-American highway, undisturbed by any sign of human activity. About 75km south of the town of Antofagasta, its monotony is shattered by a sight even more alien then the desert itself, and yet undoubtedly human: an 11-meter-tall hand protruding out of the sand.

Mano de Desierto is a work of the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal, built in the early 1980s. It was financed by a local booster organization called Corporación Pro Antofagasta.

The motion of hands rising from the ground is an obsession of Mr. Irarrázabal's. His other famous works include two other over-sized sculptures exploring the same idea: The Awakening is located at National Harbor in Prince George's County, Maryland, and Monument to the Drowned in located on Parada 4 at Brava Beach in Punta del Este, a popular resort town in Uruguay.

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