Photographer Vanessa Vettorello has devoted years exploring a condition that affects roughly 4% of the world’s population yet stays largely poorly understood and rarely discussed in public. At age three, Vettorello developed strabismus—a misalignment of the eyes—which led her to see double images of every object she viewed, a phenomenon known as diplopia or double vision. Through her project Wandering Star, she examines the secret lives of those living with this complex condition, capturing intimate portraits and personal stories that show how visual doubling shapes everyday life. From struggling to pouring milk into a cup to miscalculating distances on the sports field, Vettorello’s work highlights the physical and emotional toll of a condition that countless individuals have quietly suffered since childhood.
Comprehending Eye Misalignment and Diplopia
Strabismus, often called a squint, occurs when the eye muscles do not align correctly, causing the eyes to point in various directions. This misalignment of the eyes causes diplopia—the medical term for double vision—where a person sees two separate images of a single object at the same time. The condition affects approximately 4% of the worldwide population, yet it remains one of the most overlooked eye conditions. Whilst strabismus may occur at any age, early-onset cases are especially important because they influence how the growing brain handles visual information during important developmental years.
The human brain displays a remarkable adaptive capacity, especially in young children. When strabismus starts in the early years, the visual system often develops a coping mechanism called suppression, where the brain learns to ignore or “turn off” the double image from the incorrectly aligned eye. This neurological adaptation allows many children to function without experiencing constant diplopia. However, this automatic suppression does not always occur, and for those who continue to see double images during childhood and into adulthood, the condition creates continuous mental and bodily difficulties that extend far beyond simple vision correction.
- Misalignment of the eye muscles is the main reason of double vision in both eyes
- Strabismus can be constant or intermittent based on individual factors
- Onset during early childhood often triggers visual suppression in the brain
- The disorder requires significant concentration for routine daily tasks
The Daily Challenges
For those who do not acquire suppression, even mundane activities become mentally taxing ordeals requiring focused attention. Filling a glass with liquid, assessing how far a ball is during sports, or navigating crowded spaces demands precise visual assessment. Children with uncompensated double vision frequently struggle academically and socially, often wrongly perceived as clumsy, careless, or inattentive when their difficulties stem straight from their visual condition. These struggles often remain unnoticed, leaving children to absorb their difficulties and question their own ability and value.
The psychological toll of living with undiagnosed or untreated strabismus persists into adulthood, generating persistent uncertainties about identity and capability. Many persons spend years wondering whether their apparent failures in sports, academics, or coordination stemmed from personal shortcomings or from their vision. This doubt can breed self-doubt and lead to anxiety. Only through reflection or diagnosis do people come to realise that their challenges were never about who they were as individuals, but rather about a neurological condition that significantly transformed how they perceived and interacted with their surroundings.
A Private Path from Youth to Artistic Vision
At the age of 3, visual artist Vanessa Vettorello developed strabismus, a condition that altered her perception of the world into one of perpetual duality. Everything she saw came in pairs—a duplicate vision that accompanied her through childhood. For years, this reality defined her existence, influencing how she navigated physical environments, played sports, and managed social situations. Yet at twelve, surgery offered her an surprising gift: the recovery of binocular vision. The procedure was successful, and the double world she had known since infancy abruptly transformed into singular clarity. However, this physical correction could not eliminate the years of accumulated experience, confusion, and self-questioning that had preceded it.
Rather than acknowledge her restored sight and progress onwards, Vettorello decided to bury the recollection entirely. She acted as though the condition had never occurred, pushing aside the formative years spent seeing the world differently. But as an grown-up, the questions she had suppressed began to resurface with renewed urgency. She found herself considering her early difficulties with new understanding, wondering whether her struggles with athletics, her messiness at school, and her social difficulties arose from character traits or from the neurological condition of her eyes. These considerations would ultimately shape her creative work and lead her to seek out others who had similar experiences.
Exploring the Past
The turning point came when Vettorello began questioning whether anyone else had ever felt what she was feeling. This simple question became the foundation of her project Wandering Star, an investigation into the lesser-known realm of double vision and strabismus. Rather than accepting her condition as a closed chapter, she acknowledged it as an chance to examine a widely misinterpreted phenomenon that continues to be rarely discussed in wider conversation. Her artistic practice converted individual recollection into a vehicle for broader understanding, producing visual narratives that shed light on the lived realities of others living with similar conditions.
Through her lens, Vettorello has recorded the lives of children and adults navigating strabismus, illustrating both the bodily symptoms of the condition and its profound psychological dimensions. Her subjects include Giulia, a child who saw the moon for the first time after receiving prescription lenses, and Chiara, whose early difficulties with pouring milk went undetected for years. These intimate portraits and symbolic imagery create a unified account that confirms the experiences of the estimated 4% of the global population affected by eye muscle misalignment, transforming silence into visibility.
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 reveal a recurring pattern: the profound isolation that accompanies an invisible condition. Whilst the physical manifestations of strabismus are sometimes visible to others, the mental toll of navigating a world calibrated for binocular vision stays largely concealed. The accounts presented in Wandering Star express experiences that have traditionally been overlooked in wider discourse, giving language to struggles that numerous people have experienced in silence. These accounts show that strabismus transcends a mere optical problem—it influences early development, social confidence, and one’s connection to society itself.
The Stigma and Societal Aspects of Vision
The social effects of strabismus extend far beyond the medical realm, touching upon deeply personal anxieties about appearance and belonging. Children and adults living with eye misalignment often encounter unspoken judgement, with peers sometimes viewing the visible squint as a sign of poor concentration or cognitive issues. This false assumption breeds shame, causing many sufferers to isolate themselves or adopt coping strategies designed to conceal their condition. The psychological toll of managing both a visual impairment and the stigma surrounding it creates a layered challenge that medical care on its own 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 photographs and collected testimonies, she breaks down the silence that has long obscured double vision, demonstrating that countless individuals have navigated similar struggles. By centering the voices of those affected, the Wandering Star project validates experiences that have often been overlooked or undervalued, whilst simultaneously questioning societal assumptions about disability, difference, and what constitutes “normal” vision.
- Strabismus is frequently misinterpreted as lack of focus or laziness by uninformed observers.
- Withdrawal from social interaction worsens when visible physical differences attract unwanted scrutiny and commentary.
- Children with eye misalignment may experience worry around sports at school and team-based activities.
- The hidden emotional toll frequently surpasses the visible physical manifestations of the condition.
- Community education initiatives are essential to normalise discussion around eye-related conditions.
Wandering Star as a Documentary and Mirror
Vettorello’s Wandering Star project functions as both documentary record and profoundly intimate mirror, recording the lived reality of strabismus through personal portraiture and honest accounts. By documenting the experiences of individuals from varying ages and backgrounds, the photographer builds a visual archive that affirms the challenges of those who have long felt isolated by their condition. Each photograph—whether of a young person adapting to the world with bifocals or a cat with the same eye misalignment—serves as proof that double vision is neither uncommon nor stigmatised. The project shifts private suffering into mutual understanding, allowing viewers to observe the quotidian challenges that shape life with this frequently hidden disability.
Yet Wandering Star goes beyond simple record-keeping by offering Vettorello herself a route towards reconciliation with her own past. By examining the circumstances which shaped her childhood, she reasserts agency over a story which had been buried for decades. The project serves as a type of visual testimony, addressing the questions that troubled her into adulthood: whether her perceived failures were personal shortcomings or consequences 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.