Coral bleaching is a prevalent marine ecological problem taking place over the past two decades, as well as an inevitable consequence of global warming. Fading Ocean is an attempt to arouse public attention and raise environmental awareness: each vivid and delicate crochet coral gradually turns white with rising temperature, before gradually squirming in desperation. Jiaying Qian constructed a massive textile installation that reacts to temperature triggers in a bid to convey the abovementioned 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 utilized 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 to calibrate the changes as desired.

Materials：100% Merino wool, SMA wire, thermochromic material