I came across this abandoned Fàbrica Manequim on my way up several flights of stairs in this old building in Lisbon’s Chiado. I was looking for the shop of a camera repairman —who I found and who masterly fixed my Mamiya. I was into the space, and I was equally fascinated and disturbed. Intense replicas of humans and human parts covered the floors and walls. It was as if the entire factory of workers left for coffee over decades ago and never came back. Molds, paint cans, and half-finished mannequins everywhere. Even invoices left in the typewriter.

I returned to photograph twice, both with the living human form— returning a third time to be astonished it had been condemned and gutted without warning. This studio was lost— but the real story only began…