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Eyes Wide Shut: Laurie Simmons's Gaze Illusions

The latest project of photographer Laurie Simmons, who has previously portrayed life-like dolls in everyday poses, features live subjects with doll gazes.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



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The latest project of photographer Laurie Simmons, who has previously portrayed life-like dolls in everyday poses, features live subjects with doll gazes. The models are photographed with their eyes closed, but look all-seeing: their eyelid makeup consists of hyper realistic doll-eye depictions. The mix is not apparent at first sight, even as the uncanny gazes follow the exhibit visitors around the gallery.

Susana Martinez-Conde is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is author of the Prisma Prize–winning Sleights of Mind, along with Stephen Macknik and Sandra Blakeslee, and of Champions of Illusion, along with Stephen Macknik.

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