Photographer Vanessa Vettorello has devoted years exploring a condition that impacts approximately 4% of the world’s population yet stays largely misunderstood and rarely discussed in public. At age three, Vettorello acquired strabismus—a misalignment of the eyes—which led her to see two images of every object she viewed, a phenomenon called diplopia or blurred vision. Through her project Wandering Star, she investigates the hidden world of those living with this intricate disorder, documenting personal photographs and individual narratives that reveal how double vision affects daily existence. From having difficulty pouring milk into a cup to miscalculating distances on the sports field, Vettorello’s work highlights the mental and physical toll of a condition that many have quietly suffered since childhood.
Grasping Eye Misalignment and Diplopia
Strabismus, often called a squint, occurs when the eye muscles fail to align properly, making the eyes look in different directions. This misalignment of the eyes causes diplopia—the medical term for double vision—where a person sees two distinct images of a single item at the same time. The condition affects roughly 4% of the worldwide population, yet it remains one of the least discussed eye conditions. Whilst strabismus can develop at any age, cases that develop early are particularly significant because they influence how the growing brain processes visual information during crucial formative years.
The human brain displays a striking ability to adapt, particularly in young children. When strabismus begins in the early years, the visual system often develops a coping mechanism called suppression, through which the brain becomes trained to disregard or “turn off” the double image from the incorrectly aligned eye. This neurological adaptation enables many children to perform without enduring constant diplopia. However, this automatic suppression does not always occur, and for those who persist in seeing double images throughout childhood and adulthood, the condition poses ongoing cognitive and physical challenges that extend far beyond simple vision correction.
- Misalignment of the eye muscles is the primary cause of binocular double vision
- Strabismus may be constant or intermittent based on individual factors
- Onset during early childhood often triggers visual suppression in the brain
- The disorder requires considerable focus for everyday activities
The Everyday Challenges
For those who do not acquire suppression, even everyday tasks become cognitively demanding challenges requiring intense concentration. Filling a glass with liquid, judging the distance to a ball during sports, or navigating crowded spaces demands careful visual calculation. Children with uncompensated double vision often find it difficult academically and socially, often misinterpreted as clumsy, careless, or inattentive when their difficulties stem straight from their visual condition. These struggles frequently go unrecognised, leaving children to absorb their difficulties and question their own competence and worth.
The psychological weight of coping with undiagnosed or untreated strabismus continues into adulthood, creating lasting questions about identity and capability. Many people spend considerable time wondering whether their apparent failures in sports, academics, or coordination resulted from personal shortcomings or from their eyesight. This uncertainty can foster questioning of self and contribute to worry. Only through reflection or diagnosis do people start to comprehend that their struggles were never about their worth as individuals, but rather about a brain-based condition that significantly transformed how they perceived and interacted with the world around them.
A Individual Progression from Childhood to Artistic Vision
At the age of 3, visual artist Vanessa Vettorello developed strabismus, a medical condition that altered her perception of the world into one of constant duality. Everything she saw came in pairs—a twin image that followed her through childhood. For years, this experience shaped her existence, influencing how she moved through spaces, played sports, and managed social situations. Yet at twelve, surgery provided her an unexpected gift: the recovery of binocular vision. The procedure was successful, and the double world she had known since birth suddenly collapsed into singular clarity. However, this surgical intervention could not erase the accumulated years of experience, confusion, and self-questioning that had preceded it.
Rather than recognise her restored sight and move forward, Vettorello opted to bury the memory completely. She acted as though the issue had never occurred, pushing aside the formative years spent observing the world differently. But as an adult, the suppressed questions began to emerge again with renewed urgency. She found herself reflecting on her early difficulties with new understanding, questioning whether her difficulties in sports, her messiness at school, and her social awkwardness resulted from personality traits or from the neurological condition of her eyes. These considerations would eventually catalyse her creative work and lead her to seek out others who shared her experience.
Exploring the History
The turning point came when Vettorello began questioning whether anyone else had ever felt what she was feeling. This straightforward inquiry became the genesis of her project Wandering Star, an investigation into the hidden world of strabismus and double vision. Rather than accepting her situation as a finished matter, she acknowledged it as an chance to examine a widely misinterpreted occurrence that continues to be rarely discussed in wider conversation. Her artistic practice converted personal memory into a vehicle for wider comprehension, creating visual storytelling that illuminate the lived realities of others living with comparable situations.
Through her lens, Vettorello has documented the lives of people of all ages dealing with strabismus, presenting both the physical manifestations of the condition and its significant mental dimensions. Her subjects feature Giulia, a child who saw the moon for the first time after receiving corrective glasses, and Chiara, whose childhood struggles with milk-pouring tasks went undetected for years. These close-up images and symbolic imagery form a unified account that affirms the experiences of the estimated 4% of the world’s people affected by eye muscle misalignment, making the invisible visible.
Perspectives Outside the Photographer
| Patient Story | Impact and Outcome |
|---|---|
| Amanda – Born with accommodative strabismus | Mirrors became sites of confusion; simple self-reflection required navigating double vision daily |
| Giulia – Young girl with accommodative strabismus wearing bifocals | Faced unkind classmates at school but gained acceptance of her glasses; saw the moon clearly for the first time after receiving corrective lenses |
| Chiara – Childhood diagnosis delayed until later years | Struggled to pour milk into cups, prompting parental frustration before strabismus was identified as the underlying cause |
| Briciola – A cat with strabismus | Demonstrates that the condition transcends human experience, occurring commonly in certain animal breeds |
| Young Vanessa Vettorello – Underwent surgery at age 12 | Regained full binocular vision but spent years suppressing the memory before channelling her experience into artistic practice |
The narratives woven throughout Vettorello’s project expose a consistent thread: the deep sense of isolation that comes with an hidden condition. Whilst the physical manifestations of strabismus are occasionally apparent to others, the emotional burden of navigating a world designed for binocular vision remains largely hidden. The accounts presented in Wandering Star articulate experiences that have long been marginalised in wider discourse, providing words for struggles that numerous people have experienced in silence. These accounts illustrate that strabismus goes well past a simple vision issue—it shapes childhood development, self-assurance in social settings, and one’s connection to society itself.
The Stigma and Social Dimensions of Sight
The social impacts of strabismus go well past the medical realm, touching upon profound anxieties about appearance and belonging. Children and adults experiencing eye misalignment often encounter quiet disapproval, with peers sometimes reading the visible squint as a sign of inattention or intellectual difficulty. This misconception generates shame, causing many sufferers to isolate themselves or engage in adaptive behaviours designed to mask the problem. The psychological toll of handling both a visual impairment and the stigma surrounding it creates a layered challenge that medical intervention alone cannot address.
Vettorello’s project directly confronts this stigmatisation by depicting strabismus not as a character flaw but as a legitimate medical condition deserving compassion and understanding. Through her photographic work and gathered accounts, she breaks down the silence that has historically surrounded double vision, demonstrating that countless individuals have navigated similar struggles. By centering the voices of those affected, the Wandering Star project affirms experiences that have often been overlooked or undervalued, whilst simultaneously challenging societal assumptions about disability, difference, and what constitutes “normal” vision.
- Strabismus is often misunderstood as inattention or laziness by people unfamiliar with the condition.
- Social isolation worsens when noticeable physical variations invite unwanted scrutiny and commentary.
- Children with misaligned eyes may develop anxiety around school sports and group activities.
- The invisible psychological burden often exceeds the apparent physical signs of the condition.
- Public awareness campaigns are vital to normalise discussion around eye-related conditions.
The Wandering Star as a Documentary and Mirror
Vettorello’s Wandering Star project functions as both documentary record and deeply personal mirror, recording the actual lived experience of strabismus through intimate portraiture and candid testimony. By recording the stories of individuals of diverse ages and backgrounds, the photographer establishes a photographic archive that acknowledges the struggles of those who have experienced estranged by their condition. Each photograph—whether of a child adjusting to the world with bifocals or a cat with the comparable eye alignment issue—serves as evidence that double vision is neither uncommon nor stigmatised. The project converts personal pain into shared understanding, allowing viewers to see the daily obstacles that characterise life with this frequently hidden disability.
Yet Wandering Star transcends simple record-keeping by offering Vettorello herself a route towards reconciliation with her own past. By investigating the condition that shaped her childhood, she reasserts agency over a narrative that had been concealed for decades. The project becomes a form of visual testimony, answering the questions that haunted her into adulthood: whether her perceived failures were personal shortcomings or results of her vision. In doing so, Vettorello demonstrates how artistic practice can function as both healing and education, converting individual trauma into collective awareness and cultivating empathy for those traversing the concealed realm of double vision.