“In the mirror stage, Lacan compressed the two phases into one. At the very moment when the ego is formed by the image of the other, narcissism and aggressivity are correlatives. Narcissism, in which the image of one’s own body is sustained by the image of the other, in fact introduces a tension: the other in his image both attracts and rejects me”

(Julien, Jacques Lacan’s Return to Freud

Through experiments in transmutation, the alchemists struggled to understand the elements that shape our existence, and therefore ourselves. Silvering of glass, is a process of illumination of identity. As described in Lacan’s mirror stage, turning the individual into an object that can be perceived from outside one’s self. The mirror has played a formative role in shaping our sense of personal identity. It is almost impossible to pass by one’s reflection without taking pause. However, identity is something that is volatile, forever changing, and so the fluid and deteriorated appearance of the viewer, reflects reflects a more authentic self.

The illusion of self is paired with the illusion of time in the latest edition of Timeless clocks and wristwatches currently on sale at the New Museum