A&D ANNUAL 2022

Jiaying Qian

Coral bleaching is a prevalent marine ecological problem that has taken place over the past two decades as an inevitable consequence of global warming. ‘Fading Ocean’ is an attempt to generate public attention and raise environmental awareness – each vivid and delicate crochet coral gradually turns white with rising temperature, before gently squirming in desperation. Jiaying Qian constructed a massive textile installation that reacts to temperature triggers in a bid to communicate these threats. Numerous materials, predominantly 100% wool, are used in this interactive textile art installation. Jiaying spun raw wool from Australian farms into soft and beautiful wool yarn, before weaving them into lifelike corals by hand crocheting. To explore the interactive possibilities among various textiles, Jiaying utilised two special temperature-sensing materials: thermochromic materials and shape memory alloys. These allow the installation to change colour and move in response to heat. The outcome was eventually completed after multiple iterations which emerged from the design process.