From my eyes many tears have spilled. Forever radically emotional, I embrace my tendency toward misty-eyes, whether it be from joy or sadness. Over time, and many tearful moments, I have begun to notice the differences. Desperation tears feel different than those from an overflowing of hilarity. Tears of true sorrow drop heavy, and fast whereas crying from laughing, the tears seem to just water around my eyes, never quite getting anywhere until I brush them away as I try to catch my breath.
I stumbled upon a study and art piece done by Rose-Lynn Fisher entitled “Topography of Tears.”
It is breath-taking and astonishing, as Fisher took tears from a spectrum of emotions – with a total of 100 tears – and studied them under a standard light microscope.
She said, “The random compositions I find in magnified tears often evoke a sense of place, like aerial views of emotional terrain. Although the empirical nature of tears is a chemistry of water, proteins, minerals, hormones, antibodies and enzymes, the topography of tears is a momentary landscape, transient as the fingerprint of someone in a dream. This series is like an ephemeral atlas.”
Taking a closer look at the watery droplets of our emotions show visual representations that speaks to a level of the physical artistry that us humans are embedded with, right down to the composition of our physical form.
“[Tears] are the evidence of our inner life overflowing its boundaries, spilling over into consciousness. Wordless and spontaneous, they release us to the possibility of realignment, reunion, catharsis: shedding tears, shedding old skin. It’s as though each one of our tears carries a microcosm of the collective human experience, like one drop of an ocean.”
– Rose-Lynn Fisher
From basal tears, which are naturally occurring to help lubricate the eyes, to those stirred by emotions, see her art below. Marvel in the wonderment of our physical beauty.
alicia michele greco 