2023-ongoing
Starting from diagnosis of mild depression of the creator,
the series turns fleeting sorrow into a site of contemplation,
through documenting stories of tears from people who lived in Shanghai during 2022 and beyond. The artist invite viewers to confront their own relationship to emotion, exposure, empathy and memory.
With more and more collective memory and history officially removed, the urgency of documenting individual experience and history reserved in a low profile yet impactful form is on the rise.
initial thoughts
What does it mean to witness someone at their most unguarded, and how does the act of being seen alter the nature of that vulnerability?
Origin – Sharing Tears
Shape of A Tear started as a video portrait series in 2023, born from the lingering trauma of the 2022 lockdown, a well-known yet officially cancelled event.
In the wake of that period, the artist experienced mild depression and started psychological therapy. In effort of healing, the artist invited participants to her home, to share and have their own moments of crying documented, while exploring the memory and connection each person holds with their body in states of vulnerability.
This project becomes both a personal and collective act of care: a space where painful experiences are acknowledged as deeply individual, yet profoundly shared. By attending to the subtle details of tears, Shape of A Tear reframes crying as a site of remembering, connection, healing, and companionship.
The work itself merges the conversations shared with the participants before, during, and after, with images of before, during and after the tears, and the parts of the body each person chooses to recognize, which are overlapped onto the portrait itself.
Through layered sensory experiences including sound, touch, and conversation, the work records the act of crying as it unfolds in real time. Each portrait is shaped not only by the visible tear, but by the exchange of emotions between two people in shared presence.
Development – Interactive Performance Installation
In 2025, the project expands into a renewed collaboration between Etonmars and composer Hanno, building upon their earlier partnership on the interactive installation Xingtong (press). That project called for broader public understanding of neurodiversity through participatory installation and audience-facing activities. For Shape of a Tear, they plan to interweave documentary images and videos with generated visuals and sound, constructing an immersive environment informed by the philosophy of games. Within this space, participants’ experiences from 2022 are translated into layered sensory narratives, allowing personal histories to unfold through interaction rather than linear storytelling.
Development – Body Pain Theater group collaboration
In parallel, a collaboration with Iran’s underground theater group – Body Pain, led by Amirhoussein, has emerged through shared research and dialogue initiated at Laboratory by hosq. Despite differences in language and cultural background, we found a strong resonance in our discussions around memory, trauma, healing, and the relationship between body and mind. We plan for this collaboration to be an in-person working process to explore tears as a physical manifestation of emotion, and theatre and action as shared spaces of witnessing. Through embodied experimentation and documentation, we aim to investigate how collective presence can facilitate forms of healing that extend beyond individual experience.
EtonMars 