Zhenqian Wu

Zhenqian (Zia) Wu is a textile designer who is devoted to breaking down boundaries between the traditional and future textile practice. She completed her degree at Donghua University specializing in Textile Design.

Zia believes that textile design offers a vehicle for intimate experience between human and natural worlds. She uses textiles to highlight the impact and threat of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems. Hoping to remind people to pay more attention to the scale of our impact on marine life.

REACT // RE-SEA

The ocean dominates the Earth and occupies about 70% of the planet. Watching the documentary Seaspiracy drew Zia to focus on the unseen environmental impacts of the fishing industry for marine ecology and bycatch for fish species.

The fishing industry is not only the greatest threat to the marine ecosystem but also causes a large proportion of plastic pollution through discarded fishing nets and gear. RE-SEA explores how to highlight the unseen impact of the fishing industry through the use of embroidery, biomaterials and technology, creating wearable pieces to convey the brutality and pain fish experience as a result of pollution and overfishing. The project focuses on drawing attention to the threat on the marine ecosystem, using textile as a vehicle to encourage people to REACT to prevent further damage, rather than seeking a recycling method to compensate for this behaviour.