
An exploration of what it means to lose your eyesight as someone who relies on it for expression and creation.
The
De-Generate
Story
De-Generate, is a deeply personal project inspired by the struggles of my grandfather, who passed away two years before I completed my animation degree. He suffered from macular degeneration, a condition that gradually took away his ability to see. His eyesight began to deteriorate when I was in the 1st grade, which meant he never once saw my art clearly.
Degenerate is a meditation on the potential loss of sight and what that means for an artist. Since macular degeneration is a genetic disease, it’s possible that I, too, could one day develop it. The film reflects my fears and emotions surrounding this uncertain future, exploring what it means to lose a vital sense as someone who relies on it for expression and creation. Through this narrative, I examine the stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—and how they manifest when faced with the possibility of losing one’s artistic vision.
The visual style of the film shifts as the protagonist progresses through these stages, with the world becoming more abstract and distorted as their vision deteriorates. This exploration of sight and identity serves as both a tribute to my grandfather and a reflection of my own anxieties as an artist. Degenerate became not only a project of technical and creative development but also a personal journey of confronting the fragility of my own creative future.