5. Tide of Tears: Mapping emotion through computational tear paths

24 Fall, Harvard. With May Choy and Sophia Liao.




                - Rainer Maria Rilke

"We are each a secret ocean."





Tides of Tears explores emotions, time, and gravity through a spatial lens, using fragmented geometry and chaotic threads to express the delicate journey of tears.

It portrays a microscopic world where tears are the protagonists, unfolding across the surface of a human face. We trace a 2.5-dimensional journey, following each tear as it travels with the pull of gravity and the passage of time. As the head tilts at different angles, each tear carves its own unique trajectory — slipping down the cheek and merging into a vast ocean. Each drop is collected as a heartfelt currency of our deepest emotions.