Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Textiles
First Advisor
Anna Gitelson-Kahn
Second Advisor
Brooks Hagan
Third Advisor
Max Pratt
Abstract
We have grown accustomed to living in flux—moving between cities, countries, languages, and digital spaces. Life no longer unfolds in a straight line, but in fragments and transitions, never quite settling. In this restless rhythm—shaped by fast trains, shifting skies, and the invisible current of the internet—we find ourselves suspended in a vast, woven network. Connection is constant, yet motion is unrelenting.
This project begins with a question: how can textiles reflect this state of in-between? I imagine textiles not as fixed surfaces, but as responsive skins—adaptive, expressive, and attuned to change. Inspired by the tensions of contemporary life—surveillance, shrinking privacy, the demand to move and transform—I create foldable textile structures that shift form and appearance in response to their environment.
These textiles do not stay still. Their patterns shimmer; their folds breathe. Their surfaces disguise or reveal, depending on how they are worn or seen. Some distort the body’s outline; others reflect light to confuse recognition. They offer not only protection, but a quiet camouflage—tools for navigating a world in motion, where softness and flexibility are forms of strength, and transformation a quiet act of resistance.
The project draws inspiration from the natural world and examines the mechanisms behind natural pattern formation, integrating bio-inspired structures that can transform and adapt. These elements are then reinterpreted in the context of contemporary urban environments, offering dynamic visual and tactile experiences through folding and transformation.
By integrating material experimentation, innovative folding structures, and abstract cityscape-inspired patterns, this project offers a fresh approach to how textiles engage with space and the human body with innovative materials and structures.
Recommended Citation
Li, Yutong, "Folding Horizons: Knitted Textiles for a Mobile World" (2025). Masters Theses. 1475.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1475
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Art and Materials Conservation Commons, Fashion Design Commons, Fiber, Textile, and Weaving Arts Commons, Graphic Design Commons, Interactive Arts Commons, Sculpture Commons