Ra Paulette is a 68-year-old sculptor who spends his days digging caves in New Mexico's sandstone cliffs. Using only his bare hands and two simple tools (a pickaxe and a wheelbarrow), he creates smooth, stunning designs that take years and years to perfect.
After dropping out of college, Paulette entered the U.S. Navy but was discharged. He ended up becoming a drifter and hitchhiking his way across the United States, working a variety of odd jobs like a security guard, janitor, and even a farmer to fund his trip.
During a hot summer in 1985, he learned the art behind digging while working as an excavator in Dixon, Illinois. He clearly has come a long way, going from digging outhouses and constructing wells to creating beautiful masterpieces in secluded caves. He's created more than 14 structures over a span of 25 years.
It took him a total of 10 years to carve this cave that will leave you speechless:
From afar it simply looks like a rock formation...
But when you take a closer look, you'll see the cave...
It's just Paulette and his dog. He enjoys and needs the silence and serenity to do his work.
With his bare hands, a wheelbarrow, and his pickaxe, he gets to work.
Chipping away at the rock, he slowly starts to bring his artistic imagination to life...
And he continues...
Until shapes start to form...
Over the years, the fruits of his labor start to show...
“Actually, the process is what I get out of it, but I have a lot of ideas and plans, how this could be a societal tool, how this could be used as an instrument of connecting people to the earth and also to their own inner sense of who they are. I’m creating a venue, a very unique venue.”
