A portrait of a person made without the person: a reading chair used by the same person for thirty years. A worn armchair beside a lamp, the seat cushion permanently compressed on one side, the right armrest darkened and polished by a hand, a footstool positioned at exactly the right distance, a book left face-down, reading glasses folded on the arm. No people

A portrait of a person made without the person: the study of a retired ship's navigator. Brass dividers and a parallel rule on a chart table, a wall of rolled charts, a barometer, one window facing the sea, a chair whose left armrest is worn far more than the right. Everything squared away out of long habit. No people

A portrait of a person made without the person: an exam candidate's desk at 4 AM. A tower of annotated textbooks, three energy drink cans, a wall calendar with days crossed off up to a circled date, a lamp lighting only the desk while the rest of the room stays dark, a blanket over the chair back. Korean study room. No people

A portrait of a person made without the person: a rented room the morning after someone moved out. Bare mattress, rectangles of unfaded paint where a wardrobe and picture frames used to be, dents in the floor from bed legs, a single forgotten coat hanger, dust outlines on an empty shelf. Cold flat daylight, no people

A portrait of two people made without the people: a grandparents' living room prepared for a visiting grandchild. Plastic-covered sofa with the plastic removed and folded aside, a bowl of fruit already peeled, a low table with children's snacks, a floor cushion set out, a framed school photograph on the cabinet. Korean apartment interior, no people

A portrait of a group made without them: a band practice room between sessions. Amplifiers still warm with standby lights on, a snare with sticks laid across it, three half-drunk bottles of water, tangled cables, egg-crate foam on the walls, one guitar left on a stand and one case left open and empty. Dim, no people

A portrait of a person made without the person: the carer's fold-out bed beside a hospital bed. A thin blanket half-folded, a rolled towel used as a pillow, a phone charger snaking to a wall socket, a thermos and a plastic container of home food on the side table, an open notebook of recorded times. The hospital bed itself is empty and neatly made. No people

A portrait of a person made without the person: someone's first apartment, week one. A single mattress on the floor, clothes still in an open suitcase, one pot and one bowl drying by the sink, a folding table doubling as a desk, a bare bulb, one plant bought to make it feel like home. Small Korean studio room, no people

A barbershop in an old Korean neighbourhood that is STILL OPEN AND IN DAILY USE, run by the same man for forty years. Everything clean, maintained and working: walls intact, mirror polished, towels folded in a warm cabinet, razors laid out ready, lights on. The single chrome and leather chair is worn smooth at the headrest but in good repair. NOT abandoned, NOT derelict, no peeling paint, no dust, no debris. No people