Tears of Endings and Beginnings
About five years ago, photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher shed a lot of tears. There was loss and change going on in her life, but amazingly she was able to find inspiration through it all. Fisher had the thought, “I wonder what a tear looks like up close?” It became the catalyst for a year spent photographing 100 different types of them beneath a microscope for her series entitled The Topography of Tears.
Tears are broken up into three basic categories. Basal tears keep the eye lubricated, reflex tears are triggered by irritants (such as allergies), and psychic tears relate to emotion. They are composed of ingredients like oils, antibodies, and enzymes in salt water.
Fisher's study reveals the visual distinctions between tears. Cutting an onion yields a different result than those produced by laughter or grief. Her photographs are full of incredible details that make our dried waterworks look like tiny terrain. When viewing them this way, some areas appear densely populated while others are desolate. These images could be a metaphor for the passing of time. Tears don't last forever, and instead are fleeting landscapes that we travel in our lives.
Basal Tears
Laughing Tears
Onion Tears
Tears of Change
Tears of Grief
