Photos are a window to the soul. It is a creative way of expressing yourself that anyone, regardless of health or artistic ability, can achieve.

We've picked some images from female photographer Wang Yingying to decode her spiritual map of life.

If people compressed a lifetime into a single day, turning 40 would be noon.

Wang thought herself childish when preparing to celebrate her 40th birthday. She said she worried about turning 40. "I was desperate to know what really makes women like me nuts about this particular age."

At the end of 2015, she solicited women around her age in China to share their stories of family life, career and future expectations.

A woman from Lishui, East China's Zhejiang province, caught Wang's attention. "She appears to be elegant, but it was difficult for her to express herself fully because of traumatic brain injuries," she explained.

Wang said the woman fought against the deadly brain tumor in past decades. Each time she struggled down the stretch but ultimately rebounded before her 40th year.