When he was growing up, Ichio Usui was often told not to waste food. In his series Silent Voice, now shortlisted in the Sony world photography awards, the Japan-based photographic artist has dramatised this warning by fixing googly eyes to the sort of food that often gets thrown away owing to its shape or colour or an expiry date.

“Japan’s food waste per capita is one of the highest in the world,” he says. “I think we need to understand this problem, and people tend to empathise more with something that has eyes or resembles some sort of face.”

• The Sony world photography awards 2022 exhibition is at Somerset House, London, 13 April-2 May