In a contest of over 5,700 pictures from 2,423 photographers worldwide, a portrait of the android Erica has won third place.
The judges were not aware Erica was not human until after the winners had been chosen.
The contest is the 2017 Wessing Portrait Prize. The portrait of Erica was taken by Maija Tammi of Finland.
First place has gone to Cesar Dezfuli, a Spanish journalist and documentary photographer. His portrait is of 16-year-old Amadou Sumaila, a Malian immigrant rescued from the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.
The second place winner, taken by Abbie Trayler-Smith, was taken in war-torn Mosul and is part of a series documenting the effects of war on women titled Women in War: Life after ISIS.
The android portrait was taken in a research lab at Osaka University. She is a highly advanced android capable of expressing a wide gamut of human emotions. The image is part of a series titled One of The is Human, which compares robots to humans and looks at the eternal question of “What does it mean to be alive?”
First place received £15,000, second place £3,000, and third place £2,000. The top 59 entries will be showcased at the National Portrait Gallery in London until the 8th of February.
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