Mary Martin Galleries of Fine Art

"Our clothes reveal what is locked within us," Vallinas suggests. "Certain people," he goes on, "wear certain clothes to differentiate themselves from others. But when they meet people dressed the same way, they form herds. Our clothing is like the fur of animals."

To create these images, the 42-year-old, from Valladolid in Spain, first photographed volunteer models from various walks of life in his studio. He then photographs animals – occasionally pets (for his very first, he used his dog Leo – "he was what I had at hand") and farm animals – and merged the images with those of their human counterparts to "dress" them in the clothes he felt were most befitting to their mien.

These second skins, he continues, "suggest options, possibilities and ultimately choices" of interpretations of our finery that might not be so open to us if they were standard portraits.