Mannequin

We take them for granted. Mute, happy, thoughtful, watchful, dressed, distressed; we pass through their gaze without noticing.

I began photographing mannequins serially, following a chance encounter in Camden Market, London. A young woman, apparently sat strangely immobile in the middle of a busy crowd that was continually obscuring her. I like to work from what’s around me, and this seemed compelling, not least because everyone else was ignoring this enigmatic figure I now realised was a mannequin. As I began to photograph, a portrait began to suggest itself, rather than the interaction between the model and crowd. I have a background in fashion, so maybe this was a learnt reflex, but it seemed interesting.

There was no intention of making a series to start with. Nevertheless, I kept coming across these mannequins and the ideas began to coalesce. These are all mannequins that are no longer in mainstream stores (which prefer more anonymous faces now), but are found in thrift stores, street markets and antique shops, moved on to a different life. Many of these were also found across Europe, where different styles of models appeared, with different nuances. There is even a small group I have revisited for further sittings, much like old friends but less welcoming. A couple of them I still see every year. Most have been altered, some intentionally with paint, some as a result of accidental damage, or simply by the passage or patina of time. They all share a remarkable presence when you place yourself in front of one, a phenomological materiality which increasingly directed the photographs.

Mannequins as realistic figures to display clothing are relatively modern, first appearing widely in the nineteenth century. The word itself is actually masculine, related to young men being employed to model clothing in the middle ages - including womenswear. But this is a fashion-centric timeline of mannequins. They are also related to the jointed figures that artists have used as reference for centuries, a prosaic form of sculpture. Later, they were often co-opted into the making of automata in the nineteenth century, shaped the continuing basis for robot figures in science fiction in the twentieth century, and the form of actual AI robots in the twenty-first. They are part of a human fascination for simulcra of ourselves, as if by making these figures we might be able to better understand or even remake ourselves. The film Bladerunner, a brooding exploration of the phenomological experience of androids as human consciousness, was a background touchstone for these images.