Yunlu Bai

The inspiration for my work stems from a self-description during an emotional flashback: "My heart is crushed." This intense sensation led me to choose the tomato as the central element to express individual emotional and psychological states. With its heart-like shape and vivid red color, the tomato symbolizes both the fragility and sensitivity of emotions as well as the sudden eruption of trauma. Through this symbolic object, I aim to represent the emergence, collapse, and repair of emotions.

Drawing on Bessel van der Kolk’s theory, emotional flashbacks are the residual effects of trauma, remaining "unfinished" in the brain and body and replaying in the present, continuously influencing perception, emotions, and behavior. This work explores the visual expression of such traumatic experiences. In a mediated society, the overload and interference of information make emotional flashbacks occur more frequently. By using symbolic objects and experimental imaging techniques, I seek to capture the personal sensations of these fleeting moments and invite viewers to perceive and resonate with the authenticity and complexity of emotional fluctuations within the information flood.