"Raphaël Preston has, to date, worked primarily in music. After completing studies in classical guitar at the Scholla Canturum in Paris, he moved to London (Oct 1975) and became involved with the emerging technology of electronic music and synthesisers. During this time he worked with the artist Vangelis on projects including Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. Raphaël then set up a studio to record his own, mainly meditative, compositions. It was his subsequent involvement in writing soundtracks for TV advertising which rekindled an early interest in visuals and photography in particular."

In 2003 I began working on the Mannequin brief. This became a reportage on a parallel "race" that populates our urban landscapes, an anthropological study of a community's clothing, ideals, body politics and identity, through the "totemisation" embodied by the mannequins.

From the "no expense spared" window display and frozen theatre of high society shops, to the humble and often damaged mannequins of the inner city budget clothing store, I felt that all where icons of their locality, representing their hopes and ideals.