Christos Nikolis           Photography

The idea to photograph the dolls in the shop windows was born instantaneously one afternoon in October 2021, as my eyes strayed over the shoulders of the doll I was looking at. Next door, there are dolls with more realistic facial features. And even further away, dolls with beautiful hairstyles, dolls with obvious signs of time and use, dolls from the same mold but so different in their microenvironment.

Each display is different but follows the same pattern as far as the look and posture of the dolls. They stare unflinchingly into infinity, even when their faces are in the most abstract form. The perfectly still position of the body sometimes evokes a vigilant sentinel and sometimes an acrobat balancing in a performance without end. And in a perpetual flow, potential buyers pass by, stand, observe, leave.

I turn on the camera and focus. I take two steps forward. And then another. The face floods my frame. A face that resembles a human form. I make the first click. The journey begins. From one shopping street to another, time is measured in poses, in shades, in images. I feel like a spectator of a world crowded with scenes without the curtain ever coming down. I focus on the protagonists and create their portraits.