Cave Magic : Ra Paulette

The ‘Ra Caves’ –– were featured in an award winning documentary called Cavedigger. The independent film was made by Jeffery Karoff and is shortlisted for next year’s Oscar Award nominations. Karoff had been studying Ra’s work for 10 years before he began filming in 2010. 

67 years old Sculptor Ra Paulette digs caves in New Mexico’s sandstone cliffs. Ra’s caves are smooth, artistic, and breathtakingly beautiful, and he creates them with his bare hands. His only tools – a pickaxe and a wheelbarrow. He came into his unusual profession after years of being a drifter. He was a college dropout, was discharged from the U.S. Navy and hitchhiked his way across America. He worked on a series of odd jobs – postal employee, security guard, janitor, and even farmer and one point. Ra learnt the art of digging in the summer of 1985, when he worked in Dixon as an excavator. He would dig outhouses and build wells, giving him a longing to do something artistic with his hands. One thing led to another and soon, he was digging caves.

Source: http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/meet-the-man-who-artistically-carves-entire-caves-by-hand-with-a-pickaxe.html