Designer Sumangla Bishnoi transforms human emotions into evocative abstractions

Through gesticulation, verbalization, and facial expressions, we make our emotions recognizable. But without the medium of human bodies, what would they look like? Multidisciplinary designer Sumangla Bishnoi‘s poster series, Illusive Life, proposes an answer. In it, she depicts emotional states as an orb drifting through various black-and-white abstractions.

我们通过手势、言语和面部表情来表达情绪，但是如果没有了身体这个媒介，情绪又会是什么样子的？多领域设计师 Sumangla Bishnoi 的海报系列《Illusive Life》（幻象人生）给出了答案，将不同的情绪描绘成一颗颗球体，悬浮于黑白虚幻场景。

For fear, the sphere sits precariously on a cliff’s edge, paralyzed by worries of plunging into the unknown. Anger appears on an all-black page with the ball off-kilter in composition, and around it, lines chaotically shred through the page in an agitated frenzy. Pride shows the sphere encased within a cinched grid, the sliver of space that it rests in a metaphor for the narrow confines of an inflated ego.

在“恐惧”中，球体在悬崖边缘摇摇欲坠，像是担心会跌落未知的深渊而不敢动弹；而“愤怒”则是全黑的背景上涂满了狂乱的白线，像要将画面撕碎一般，而小球悬在图片的中下部毫无着落；在“傲慢”里，球体夹在封闭的网格中，压缩的空间隐喻着妄自尊大导致的狭隘。

Aside from the designs, collaborator Akshay Gupta provided vivid backstories for each emotion with simple one-liners. In Selflessness, the accompanying text paints a picture of a compassionate mother; in Joy, Gupta captures the happiness of having supportive friends; and in Curiosity, the caption speaks to the importance of having an inquisitive mind. With this additional context, Bishnoi’s evocative designs are pegged to real, relatable experiences.

除了这些视觉元素外，一起创作的 Akshay Gupta 还为每一种情绪撰写了充满诗意的旁白注解，为画面增添故事感。在“无私”的注解中，描写了母亲的慈悲之心；在“喜悦”中，Akshay 讲述了有支持自己的朋友所带来的快乐；在“好奇”中，则表达了保持好奇心的重要性。对字词的故事性解读，让 Sumangla 抽象的视觉画面更能和观众产生共鸣。

Bishnoi’s posters showcase the range of our emotional spectrum, focusing even on the difficult emotions that many prefer to push aside. By embracing the good with the bad, she celebrates what it means to be human.

“Emotions, I believe, are the things that make us feel most alive,” she says. “They make us who we are. . . They drive our behavior and values every day, every second. Yet they are abstract and intangible.”

Sumangla 的海报作品虽然简单，却令人回味无穷，展示了一系列的人类情绪，以及在生命不同阶段出现的不同情感。

她说：“我认为有了情绪，人才会意识到自己是活着的。情绪让我们成为了自己。虽然情绪是无形的，却又会无时无刻地影响我们的行为与价值观。”