Mannequins & the Aesthetics of Hollowness

I find it appealing that it is not really an object designed to represent the human, but rather a simplified archetype (an empty vessel which can project social norms). Unlike classical sculptures, which try to imitate life, mannequins are intentionally lifeless. They get to be simultaneously “anyone” and “no one.” As much as Jung defined archetypes as empty forms filled by cultural meaning, mannequins are archetypes stripped of particular meaning. Their identities are shaped by consumer culture. Visible but hollow, standardized yet endlessly customizable.

It reminds me much of contemporary liminal art, which basically explores spaces that feel uncannily familiar yet are devoid of human presence. Both liminal spaces and mannequins trigger the return of the familiar in an estranged form. And though many times thematic of indie games, they also started to deviate from the original horror themes and became fetishized and aesthetic, to a point that they now also constitute some form of internet fantasy thematic on their own. In this way, the mannequin, as well as liminal spaces, have somewhat managed to become symbolic… if hollowness can yet achieve meaning.

As mannequins stand as silent figures in transitional spaces, they are not substitutes for humans, but mirrors of what humans have become under postmodern conditions. It does remind me a lot of Baudrillard’s quote: “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth—it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.”

In a sense too, when shooting at them, I feel essenceless presence within.

Andres Congrains 12/21/25 Andres Congrains 12/21/25

moonjelly.jpg

Although I normally like to make single prints of my photos, I wish there to be one piece that anyone can access and use however they want (as a wallpaper, to print, or just to keep).

A sealed acrylic tank with Moon Jellyfish under blue-purple LED lighting, making it look like living holograms. It sorta gives the vibe of a bio-display unit embedded in aging cyberpunk infrastructure. Resembles a PlayStation sci-fi video game. There, it’s written: Moon Jelly Aurelia aurita, and this photo was saved as moonjelly.jpg on my desktop.

In my belief, symbols, knowledge, and creative works gain power through accessibility and reproduction. By allowing this precise work to be copied and distributed, my intent is amplified; therefore, giving it away ultimately serves my own benefit.

Download.

Andres Congrains 12/15/25 Andres Congrains 12/15/25

Interrupted series around past Halloween

I arrived in Bangkok without a reason. I took an airport taxi to the hotel. It gave off the vibe of a great hotel back in the day, now cast into oblivion, with old-time furniture and blurry mirrors (as if seconds were dusting off in milliseconds and remained trapped in the reflection of amber, moldy lights). From this, I had the idea of shooting a series with a haunted hotel theme. It would be composed of: a photo of the elevator entrance, a photo of my reflection in the elevator mirror, a photo of the corridors, a photo of my room, a photo of the pool, an exterior photo of the hotel, a photo of the (empty) restaurant, and a photo of the (empty) gym.

The idea revolved in my mind as I spent my very first days strolling around places I had been to before. For example, I went to my old neighborhood and shot the daily life of the people there. I went to check small fashion shops. I ate a burger. I sat in different coffee shops to let time go by. I had so many coffees. Nothing had changed. Just people eating out. Cats passing by. People talking to the wind. Bangkok speaks to itself.

And so, having chilled just enough, I decided to start shooting. The first photo would define the aesthetic of the series. First pic first. I grabbed a shot of the elevator at the entrance (it was meant to be the introduction). I gave the images a greenish look, as if ectoplasm had been spread through the lighting and shadows during the edit. Just after that, I published it on Instagram and wrote “now look at this” in Thai as the caption. The chosen location tag was creepypasta (a reference to the horror theme).

Five minutes at most -while I was staring at the post and blissfully listening to the music lyrics, obnoxiously ignoring the panic screams in the background, someone knocked heavily on my door and yelled, GET OUT, GET OUT. It was the hotel manager. “There’s a fire! Get out now.” Everyone was running and shouting. I grabbed my camera, passport, and computer. I went out. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that bad.

When I reached the entrance, I saw someone had fallen from the upper level, and was lying on the ground with a blanket covering their face. I looked up: fire was bursting out of the windows. People were hanging from their balconies to avoid the flames. That’s when I understood how bad it was. It was all pretty real and scary.

As there was nothing for me to do, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I think this deviation from panic instead of acceptance was an efficient mechanism against fear. Had a Coca-Cola with some Pad Thai. Then I came back. Two women were hanging out of their balcony while a fire truck blasted water at them from a gigantic hose mounted on some massive metal staircase. People were praying they wouldn’t fall. Only thing u can do is wish for the best.

All in all, they told us the guy who fell from the balcony was the one who caused the fire. He had been smoking inside his room, lost his balance while hanging from the balcony trying to escape the flames, and fell headfirst to the ground. Seven floors. It’s pretty shocking how you can lose it all in one go. Everyone else was saved.

Most of the hotel guests were told to wait in the lobby of a Gym & Spa &Fitness Center (so many businesses stacked up together, I kno) next door. After a few hours, they told us we could collect our belongings as the building temperature had cooled down. We went back inside the hotel.

There was no electricity, and it had become very dark. I walked around the corridors using our cell phone flashlights. After reaching the third floor, we could use the emergency lights. There was water everywhere. The fifth floor (where my room was) was all wet. I opened my room door and discovered the whole place smelled like soot. The bathroom ceiling was ruined, and water was coming out of it. I looked at myself in the room mirror. Took a photo (for the memory). Packed my belongings.

I left the place unharmed. I actually felt pretty grateful. I don’t think of it as a bad occurrence. More of a reminder. I walked 15 mins to another hotel. Checked in. Got refunded for the remaining days at the burnt hotel. And a few days later, I got an apology from them. So the whole series ended up being that one photo of the entrance, posted five minutes before the incident. That was about it. Made me think lots.

Andres Congrains 11/25/25 Andres Congrains 11/25/25

Kodak Charmera Blind-Box: Keychain-sized Digital Throwback

You don’t know which design you’ll get until you open it, and it’s quite random (there are six standard looks and one rare variant). I didn’t get the color I wanted, but I felt excited regardless. What u get is small enough to hang from a bag or keys, but is a fully working digital camera. It’s got a 1.6-megapixel CMOS sensor, a fixed 35mm-equivalent lens, and a simple rear screen for checking out shots. It shoots photos at 1440×1080 and video in AVI at 30 fps. A microSD slot supports cards up to 128GB, and a USB-C port for charging and file transfer.

It’s quite simple: plug it in and drag the files off, just like the early days of digital cameras. The shooting experience is basic and intentionally limited: no autofocus; no computational corrections; image quality that leans toward grainy and low-res. Instead of trying to impress with sharpness, the Charmera leans into lo-fi character. It includes dif digital filters, giving the photos a nostalgic, late 90s digital look straight out of cheap consumer cameras and early web uploads.

I enjoyed the monochrome filters, which made me think of pixel art, but all of them are pretty cool to be fair. The lack of high image quality is beautiful because it reminds me of those days when the internet had a lot of text, which in a way is the golden area of the internet (for me).

These pics I took the same day. It was a pretty chill stroll from Terminal 21 to Rama 9 at about 8 p.m. The shots haven’t been edited. I find them aesthetically very pleasing. It’s really satisfying when just embracing the camera’s natural limitations. The whole point is you get what you get, and that’s what u enjoy.