Tor Seidel

“Amigo,” “selfie,” or “dummy”—these are what Indian or Pakistani migrant workers in the Gulf states call the dolls that serve them as street signs and signal figures on construction sites. While the workers see these whimsical dolls merely as a pragmatic means to an end, the photographer Tor Seidel finds them to be works with great artistic qualities. Fragile and short-lived, in Tor Seidel’s staging of the dolls, they make a grand appearance as unrecognized superstars of the hot desert streets. His presentation of the “mannequins” assembled in this book makes them seem curiously animated, radiating a presence and a certain aliveness, with a disconcerting effect.