Taranaki artist Leonie Smith has a long-held fascination with camera obscura - the optical phenomenon that occurs when an image is projected through a small hole.
With her exhibition Swingers and Multiple Pickups (extending the reach) at WHMilbank Gallery in Whanganui, she has taken her enchantment to a whole new level.
The watched have become the watchers as each of the black painted toys in the exhibition have tiny pinholes on their heads or other parts of their bodies.
"If we look into the pinhole, our image is projected in the chamber inside the doll," says the artist.
The dolls in the exhibition are all painted black (Smith's signature colour) and closer inspection reveals that they are familiar identities.