Glass Me

Glass Me – Making Cool, Uncomfortable Glasses is a participatory art project that begins with a fundamental question: What does it mean to see? We often equate clear vision with truth and certainty, yet this work explores another dimension of perception through states of obscurity and partial visibility. Glasses are originally worn to improve sight; here, however, their function is intentionally removed, transforming them into devices that reveal one’s own sensory awareness and memory.

The project invites participants to imagine the diverse visual fields of the visually impaired, leading to the realization that “not seeing” is also a way of seeing. Discomfort is not treated as a deficiency, but as a catalyst that awakens perception. The artist calls the new aesthetic that emerges from this space “Uncomfortable Beauty.” The glasses created by participants become portraits—condensed expressions of their lives and attitudes.Glass Me is not a project about seeing the world more clearly; it is an ongoing inquiry into how we see. 

*Since 2004, the artist has continued this project in collaboration with more than 100 diverse communities.