Finalists – Prix Picto de la Mode 2025 : Mai Yoshida

Mai Yoshida, Japanese photographer based in Paris and graduate of Spéos Photo Paris (2023), explores the emotional architecture of the human face through a distinctly poetic and conceptual lens. In her experimental series “Facial Reaction Occurring”, she blurs the boundary between identity and performance, presenting anonymous figures cloaked in fluid black garments, their faces replaced by hand-drawn masks mounted on sticks. Emotions become props—detachable, exchangeable—inviting us to question the authenticity of what we feel and show.

Born in Japan and a 2023 graduate of Spéos Photo Paris, Mai Yoshida is based in Paris and works as a freelance photographer. She weaves a universe imbued with a quiet, twilight atmosphere.

“Facial Reaction Occurring” is an experimental series that reconstructs the relationship between faces and emotions. The models are dressed mostly in black, with flowing silhouettes that blur their individuality. Their “faces” appear as drawings mounted on wooden sticks—stripped of original expression and presented as interchangeable options.
Do human emotions truly arise from within? Or are they something we put on, like a piece of clothing? This series poses precisely that question.
“Which face will you choose to wear?”
”My face is here. But where am I?”

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