Series description
Captured across multiple abandoned vocational training institutions over an eight-year period, this series investigates the lingering presence of various training mannequins, from clinical nursing models to aesthetic hairdressing heads. Once created as silent surrogates for human practice, these fragments of artificial life now reside in a state of perpetual neglect. Through a clinical, morbid palette, the work challenges the viewer's perception of life, death and empathy, transforming these plastic husks into witnesses of a bygone era of care and education.
The Morgue Grid
Mannequins lie neatly organised in a cupboard, transforming individual figures into clinical specimens or inventory numbers, echoing a cold, forgotten order.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Uncanny Awakening
A low-angle portrait capturing the interplay of light on the plastic skin, momentarily granting an inanimate object a sense of sentient yearning and eerie life.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
The Eternal Smile
A close-up of a fixed grin that remains unchanged by decay, reflecting the unsettling paradox between human expression and plastic reality.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
The Entry of Neglect
Looking into a derelict classroom, where various training models have been discarded together, blurring the lines between different forms of human simulation.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Ward Echoes
Two mannequins positioned on adjacent hospital beds create a silent dialogue within the ward — a haunting reenactment of institutional care.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
The Peering Eye
Hidden beneath weathered bedsheets, a single synthetic eye gazes outwards, embodying psychological dread and the sensation of being watched from the shadows.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards
Collective Silence
A chaotic pile of tangled limbs and torsos represents the ultimate collapse of structure and the grand, grotesque end of human simulation.
© Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Still Life, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards