Wandering Star


Imagine a world where judging distance is a daily struggle and the simple act of pouring water into a glass requires intense concentration. At the age of three, I developed strabismus. Everything had a twin, a condition known as diplopia. 
Approximately 4% of the global population experiences this misalignment. While young children often adapt by suppressing one image, older children and adults face mental strain just to navigate the simplest tasks. At twelve, I underwent successful surgery and fully regained binocular vision. 

For years, I buried the memory, acting as if it had never happened. However, as an adult I began to look back. I started to ask myself: Was I bad at some sports because of my personality, or was it because of my eyes? Was I so messy at school because of who I am, or because of my poor vision? Has anyone else ever felt what I was feeling?






Dr. Zanasi, orthoptist and researcher, poses with the Bagolini red filter. Professor Bagolini was a renowned Italian strabologist, he died in 2010; together with Dr. Zanasi, they authored one of the most famous Italian book on strabology. The slides come from the doctor’s private archive.
L., 7, was born via emergency C-section. She manages speech delays and oculomotor dyspraxia, and while team sports were difficult, she found balance and calm through horseback riding.



Vittoria in her room, February 2023


Vittoria's drawing in the hospital right after her operation.
In June 2022, her parents noticed her eye turning inward. This condition was fully corrected by surgery in September 2023. Below, Carlotta, mother of Vittoria, speaks about the experience after some months.




Vittoria in her room, March 2024

A drawing left at the hospital, "Thank you doctor, my eyes are wonderful."




The story of recovering binocular vision is told by Susan R. Barry, a neurobiologist and retired university professor, in her book Fixing My Gaze (2009). As a child, she suffered from strabismus and, despite three surgeries to cosmetically align her eyes, she never developed stereoscopic vision. 
At 47 years old, due to visual difficulties that made many everyday activities like driving and reading difficult, she began vision therapy guided by an optometrist. Over time, she learned to use both eyes in a coordinated way, achieving an unexpected result: for the first time in her life, she began to perceive the world in three dimensions. 
Her story attracted great interest because until then it was believed the adult brain had very limited plasticity and was unable to acquire new functions. Barry is also the protagonist of the article Stereo Sue, written by Oliver Sacks for The New Yorker in 2006. In this audio, she shares the wonder of seeing snow in three dimensions for the first time.

Daniela was operated on at 5, a time when children wore bandages for 2 days, she remembers the terror of not being able to see. It was a traumatic experience that now makes her uncomfortable entering a dark room without first turning on a lamp. When her brother underwent the same surgery, she worried deeply about his well-being. She'd always bring him a stuffed animal for comfort, even at night when everyone else was sleeping. Also her niece Angelica has strabismus.


Angelica is Daniela’s niece. She wears a patch every morning for four hours. Her grandmother applied the first one, linking Angelica to her aunt Daniela through a shared bond.



"Mom, what's that in the sky?" and she replied, "The Moon." 
The mother realised that her daughter had never been able to see it clearly before.




Giulia started wearing glasses at the age of 5. Until then, it wasn’t very clear that she couldn’t see well. Young children don’t know how to communicate what it means to see well because they aren’t aware that something is wrong; it’s simply their visual world and perception. 
Despite having very attentive parents, it was the teacher who first noticed it.
Her mother told me that one evening, while they were returning home, her daughter asked, "Mom, what’s that in the sky?" and she replied, "The Moon." 
It was then that the mother realized her daughter had never been able to see it before. 
Giulia is an energetic 8-year-old girl. Though stubborn, she has never shied away from the balance beam in rhythmic gymnastics, despite the visual challenge. 
She has accommodative strabismus, and the best solution for her is wearing glasses. She wears bifocals with a visible line that constantly corrects her strabismus. However, her doctor and mother have helped her accept them, which is important because school hasn’t always been easy. Some classmates have been unkind in the past.




Camilla has albinism, a condition where a lack of melanin affects optic nerve development, leading to light sensitivity, nystagmus, and sometimes strabismus.



Amanda suffers from accommodative strabismus and should wear glasses constantly. Her mother tries to make her wear them, but Amanda decides on her own when to put them on. The causes of her strabismus are unknown, but her mother associates it with a fall from the mezzanine.


C., 33 years old, photographer, has suffered from convergent strabismus since childhood and has never undergone surgery. She lives with double vision and difficulty focusing. Her lenses provide her with stability, but strabismus remains for her an intimate and precious part of herself: “Losing it would be like losing a piece of the way I see the world.” Her contact lenses, essential during the day, are only removed at night and placed on the bedside table; sometimes their transparency evokes imaginary structures.

Ayda, age 10, experienced accommodative strabismus, now resolved thanks to the consistent use of glasses. Even when she takes them off, the strabismus is no longer visible. Early eye exams led to a diagnosis of astigmatism combined with hyperopia. Prompt intervention and wearing glasses regularly helped greatly reduce the issue, which may become less significant as she grows. For Ayda, glasses have never been a problem: her best friends wear them too, and she has never felt different. 
On the contrary, she places great value on uniqueness, which she sees as something positive.


Wandering Star explores how a physical condition shapes identity and the experience of seeing and being seen.  By blending reportage of real-life situations with the reconstructed memories, the work integrates my personal story with portraits of others. Rather than seeking a resolution, the project reflects on the social and psychological implications of a different gaze. The title refers to a symbol from a binocular vision test: a star that remains invisible to those without binocular vision. I reconstructed it.

Briciola, a cat with strabismus, represents a condition common in certain breeds. Felines were central to Hubel and Wiesel’s landmark studies on how visual development shapes the brain.

My father managed my medical care and pushed for my surgery. Even though both my parents had perfect vision, I looked for a physical resemblance in my father’s features, a link to a condition they didn’t share.

In "Face to Face with Strabismus," Lucia Wilson shares a family legend, a monk in Burma warned her mother that a snakebite would affect the family's vision for generations. ”Face to Face with Strabismus” is a book by Lucia Wilson,  in collaboration with photographer Francesca Cesari, and with psychologist, Dr Silvia Riva, and consultant ophthalmologists, Mr Saurabh Jain and Dr Giovanni Battista Marcon.



Vincenzo has a long history of strabismus that began when he was 3 years old. After three surgeries and many corrective attempts, he also faced a severe retinal detachment. Today, vision in his right eye is almost completely lost, but he still has minimal light perception. With irony and awareness, he collaborated on this photo recalling a childhood episode. 
“Strabismus makes you live truly embarrassing moments, from early childhood to adulthood.” His son (who suffered from amblyopia) plays young Vincenzo: he is pictured in a gym greeting a girl, who does not return the gesture, thinking it was meant for the friend behind him, who actually responds. 
You can hear Vincenzo’s voice here.

Amanda was born with accommodative strabismus. Looking in the mirror is not always a simple act.

Wandering Star formed also the basis of my thesis in Psychology, aims to bring awareness to the subtle stigma and lack of understanding surrounding strabismus.  You can read here the abstract.



Behind the scenes of Wandering Star, with the support of the Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant.


Take me back to Vanessa Vettorello’s photography website


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