The Topography of Tears

Fisher's approach is to subjectively call out the beauty in one of the simplest but most common experiences of our lives. She could have merely looked at tears from a scientific angle and it would have been clutching at sand, but instead she celebrates the mystery of our humanity in these photographs. It is astounding how different each image is. Fisher's photo titles connect with each piece so well that the viewer easily finds themselves engaging in an emotional and philosophical response to what can only be an abstract image. These photographs share a story, a journey, that is just as much the author's as the viewer's--I hope to share this beautiful collection of art with many others who cross paths with me.

Does a tear shed while chopping onions look different from a tear of happiness?

Are my tears of grief the same as my tears of gratitude?

Artist and photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher here presents dozens of photographs of the patterns created when the proteins, minerals and water of tears dry onto slides and are captured through an optical microscope and camera. The black-and-white images are fascinating and varied, often calling to mind the patterns captured in aerial photography, and they’re beautifully published on smooth paper in a pleasing volume with French flaps. And yet, I’m disappointed in the book.

I’m enthusiastic of the Bellevue Literary Press and its mission to present material “at the intersection of the arts and show more sciences.” I was somewhat aware of the research into differences in tear composition based on emotional state, and was eager to see those differences here. But to be clear: this collection is art, not science. There is no analysis or comparison, only short photo captions -- a few of which are descriptive (for example, the expected “Tears of grief” and “Onion tears”), but most of which are confounding even when approached as poetry (for example, “Now pivotal” and “Old mistakes under a new sky”). More frustrating is Fisher’s note that she wanders each slide “in search of a ‘region of interest’ and then photograph[s] it.” For me, that removed so much context that I had trouble appreciating even the subjective art. show less

This little book is utterly fascinating. Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher has photographed highly-magnified teardrops, and the variation that they present is astonishing. Tears that look like snowflakes, tears that look like tree bark, and most intriguing of all, tears that look like satellite images of Earth's terrain and cities and bodies of water. Fisher explains that she collected tears of all kinds- tears of joy and sorrow and exhaustion. But we don't always know which tear is which. The focus here is on the art of the tear structure and the strange and wonderful shots that Fisher has produced from them, and many images seem to be named, quite aptly, for the vision they present, rather than the emotion from which they were elicited show more ("What it meant long after a time forgotten," or "Full measure" or "Near the end Tom wrote, Everything is poetry in action if you can love enough"). My scientific-leaning noggin would have liked to know exactly which tear is which, but, on the other hand, I think the lack of precise tear labeling allowed me to more fully experience the artistry of the images and better appreciate the emotion conveyed through visual rather than analytic means.

This book would be a wonderful, unique gift for a doctor, a therapist, a professor, an artsy friend, or really, any human of your choosing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, via LibraryThing's Early Review program, in exchange for an impartial review. show less

This book is very image-heavy, relying on large grayscale photographs of tears under a microscope, accompanied by very little text. Often the "title" of each image is as short as a single word. The sparse presentation is reminiscent of an art show in a formal gallery, where work is typically installed on white walls in a sea of negative space, supported by explanatory text as small and unobtrusive as possible. This kind of design feels very traditional, like a request to view Fisher's work as more fine art than science experiment, and also like an invitation to approach the images with open-ended curiosity rather than a sense of already knowing. The book itself is a really lovely, high quality paperback with a nice weight in the hands show more and could make a thoughtful gift or coffee table book. show less

Science and art have been symbiotic since humans first painted their hand prints on cave walls. Fisher attempted that same relationship in her book “The Topography of Tears”, but she unfortunately falls short. Basically, a picture book containing about 100 microscope photos of monochrome dried tears, the book offers little in science and not much more as literature. OK, the pictures are a bit interesting in a random sort of way, and could possibly be used as a sort of Rorschach test ( I see faces on some graphs and several others look like street maps of suburban developments. ) , still it is difficult for me to get past the fact that these photos are just desiccated pre-mucus. Perhaps spectral imaging or color staining or filtering show more would have been more fascinating, highlighting the various limpids, skin cells, minerals and bacteria.

So, if you might enjoy viewing dried tears while contemplating happy and sad thoughts, this book is for you. I am happy that I received the book free from Library Thing. I give it two stars.

4/7/2017 show less

I received a book from the Early Reviewers program and the publisher generously sent The Topography of Tears as a bonus book. It intrigued me: microscopic photos of tears for different reasons—How are tears of joy and grief, for instance, different? Newly diagnosed with a disorder that prevents me from making tears, I was even more interested. However, it turned out not to be the book for me. For one thing, I didn't understand all the captions ("Go!"; "As she crossed over the bridge disappeared"; "The breath between laughing and lace"; etc.). For another, in the end, it's really just page after page of tiny tears. I did enjoy the Afterword that explained the inspiration behind the book. I'll pass it on to my daughter, the art teacher. show more Maybe I'm not the right reader to judge this one. show less

This book of photographs is fascinating for several reasons. From reading the afterward and introduction you understand the meaningful reasons that lead Rose-Lynn Fisher to photograph tears using an optical microscope at 100X magnification. The Foreward gives fascinating information about tears (tear glands are different in men and women) and its medical importance. The photos are so varied in their abstract beauty in black and white. Some look like frost on an object, some like the photos taken of the land from space and some like the drawing of layouts of archaeological locations. This would be an excellent gift book and could be used in classrooms as writing prompts for what one sees in the photos. I received a copy for review from show more the LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. show less