Snug in a carrier, the baby looks past the camera. The infant’s expression is quizzical—her skin is blotted, she scrunches her nose and she almost pokes out her tongue. It will remain that way forever. Jamie Diamond’s photograph is of a “reborn” infant, a hyper-realistic doll made of vinyl, paint and wig hairs. “Surrogate. A Love Ideal”, an exhibition hosted by the Prada Foundation in Milan, explores the relationships humans have forged with uncanny, inanimate companions. Ms Diamond’s work focuses on the bond between mother and child: many women buy such dolls as replacements for babies they have lost, or been unable to conceive. By contrast Elena Dorfman, another artist on display, throws light on those who find familial, romantic or erotic love in life-sized sex dolls. The point of the show is not to castigate its subjects as deviants, but to show how these humanoid figures reveal the greater human yearning for connection.