Diorama

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Gorilla, 1994.
Gelatin Silver Print, 20 x 24 inches.

Sugimoto, on his Diorama series:

Upon first arriving in New York in 1974, I did the tourist thing. Eventually I visited the Natural History Museum, where I made a curious discovery: the stuffed animals positioned before painted backdrops looked utterly fake, yet by taking a quick peek with one eye closed, all perspective vanished, and suddenly they looked very real. I’d found a way to see the world as a camera does. However fake the subject, once photographed, it’s as good as real.