Format: color, digital
Duration: 14min 41sec
An experimental short-form documentary revealing the nature of ocular prosthetic technology housed at Duke University. In the History of Medicine Collections, resides a mysterious box of antique prosthetic glass eyes of unknown origin and purpose. These eyes are beautiful, but serve no function for the wearer. On the other side of campus, at the Duke Eye Center, patients are receiving cutting-edge prosthetic implants that are allowing those who’ve lost their sight to see the world in a completely new way that those of us with traditional sight are unable to replicate.
The title is drawn from Act 1, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest – part of the line which marks the first use of the word ‘eyeball’ in recorded history.