GLIMPSE

GLIMPSE is a wearable viewfinder containing a photographic negative of a deceased loved one that uses the phenomenon of afterimages to briefly project their face back into the world as a luminous apparition.

Throughout history, people have carried photographs of loved ones in wallets, lockets, and pockets. GLIMPSE extends this tradition through a simple perceptual experiment.

Each wearable viewfinder contains a photographic negative of a deceased loved one. Participants study the image before looking away toward a blank wall or empty surface. As the eyes adapt, the negative transforms into a positive afterimage, causing the face to briefly reappear as a luminous apparition suspended in space.

For a moment, the past enters the present.

Using nothing more than a photographic negative and the mechanics of human vision, GLIMPSE transforms remembrance into a direct visual experience. The image exists only temporarily, reconstructed by the viewer’s own perceptual system before slowly fading from sight.

Part memorial and part temporal device, GLIMPSE explores the relationship between memory, perception, and time. It asks how long a person remains present after they are gone, and whether the traces they leave behind continue to shape the moments that follow.

Carry it with you. When you wish to see them again, take a glimpse.