Making Eye Statements: Creepy Mannequins

“In the same way mannequins resemble people,

fiction resembles life.”

- Online meme, sometimes attributed to Marty Robin

“You know, a carving...is not meant to move. These faces, these half-bodies, when you animate them, they're more live than the living. They can be dangerous for those who don't really understand them. With contained energy, no one can predict what will happen when it's released.”

- Jacques Yonnet, French author and poet, 1915-1974

Mannequins have always fascinated me. They have lives of their own. When you turn away, you just know that they move imperceptibly or – worse – breathe.

And when the store closes – well, that’s when the mannequins take over. Try on each other’s clothes. Sip dry (of course) martinis. Have unprotected sex. Pretend they’ve read Finnegans Wake. The usual suburban things.

Like cattle, mannequins sleep standing up, or so I’m told.

They can be entertaining, humorous, strange, and just plain creepy. Take a look at the photo above. Creepy, yes?

I know exactly when my fascination with mannequins began: it was 1963 in the Better Living Centre at the Canadian National Exhibition. The Glenayr Kitten Mill of Lanark, Ontario, featured a display of live models wearing the mill’s famous sweaters – “Kitten Sweaters”. Those models sat absolutely still for hours on end. It was uncanny and rivetting at the same time. Silent crowds stood and stared back at them. It was performance art, although that term meant nothing to me at the time.

It started my life-long fascination with mannequins. It was also when I unwittingly trained myself to be a Kitten model. To this day, I can sit still for a very long time, barely breathing, eyes blinking only occasionally...totally still. In a staring contest, I will win. Ask my former students.

The photos that follow are culled from my collection of mannequin images. I enjoy their utter strangeness. I hope you do, too. Or not.