Topological boundary states are a hallmark of topological phases, yet their direct detection remains challenging when they hybridize with bulk states or fail to form isolated in-gap modes. Here, we introduce a dynamical approach for directly distilling boundary-localized states in topological lattices via non-Hermitian masking, achieved by imposing loss on the bulk region of the lattice without targeting specific eigenmodes. Under full-field excitation, bulk modes are dynamically suppressed, while boundary-localized states survive as the longest-lived modes, enabling their direct visualization. We experimentally demonstrate this method in tailored photonic honeycomb lattices using defocused incoherent input, demonstrating the dynamical distillation of both static and Floquet-induced corner states. Notably, the proposed approach does not rely on mode-selective excitation or prior knowledge of the spatial distributions of boundary states, and enables their simultaneous visualization even in the presence of spatial extension or hybridization. Our results establish a general and experimentally accessible strategy for isolating and visualizing boundary-localized states in topological systems.

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• Topological effects in photonic systems
• Non-Hermitian systems
• Waveguide arrays