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Rust Memory

Jiayu Xu

Profile picture of Jiayu Xu

I am a textile designer working across material research and critical design. My research focuses on the changes and influences that digital technology and social media have brought to people and society. My interdisciplinary background enables me to build a wider viewpoint to visualise my findings and thinkings in my daily life through textile design.

I am a textile designer working across material research and critical design. My research focuses...

Digital memory increasingly replaces traditional forms of memorising, yet leaves behind not only virtual archives but also tangible ecological scars. My research visualises the hidden ecological cost of technological development by combining discarded digital components representing digital technologies with natural fibres symbolising the environment.

Like fossils, digital memory carries individual and collective memories, serving as a bridge between the past and future. The concept informs a series of imagined ‘future fossils’ where biological traces are overwritten by technological debris. These textile landscapes confront the illusion of digital immateriality and expose how the material remains of digital culture quietly reshape our ecological reality.

Final work

  • The work is a layered textile piece with rust dye resembling a cross-section of geological rock strata.
  • The work is a layered textile piece with rust dye resembling a cross-section of geological rock strata.
  • The work is a layered textile piece with rust dye resembling a cross-section of geological rock strata.

Research and process

  • The sketch and samples of the rust dye in different durations
  • The sketch and samples of the rust dye in different durations
  • The sketch and samples of rust dye in different durations
  • The samples of simulating stratigraphic textures through embroidery
  • The samples of simulating stratigraphic textures through embroidery
  • The samples of simulating stratigraphic textures through embroidery and beading

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Rust Memory

Digital memory increasingly replaces traditional forms of memorising, yet leaves behind not only virtual archives but also tangible ecological scars. My research visualises the hidden ecological cost of technological development by combining discarded digital components repres...

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