Wang Ya

→ Growing Colors 2024-2025

→ Dictyostelium 2024-2025

→ Cell-Cell 2023-2024

→ Inner Kinship 2022

→ Ants 2021

Acknowledgements

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Growing Colors

Fabric, Soil Microbes, Chromogenic Reagents, Culture Medium

Overview

Growing Colors presents an interdisciplinary investigation bridging Cell Biology and Textile Design. I have developed a novel chromogenic process driven by microbial metabolic activity, which translates the dynamic life of soil microbial communities into tangible patterns on fabric. This is not merely a new dyeing technique, but an attempt at "Interspecies Collaboration." Through this process, microbial competition and cooperation are transformed into visible dynamic patterns. This work seeks to re-establish a sensory and conceptual resonance between humans and the submerged microscopic ecosystems beneath our feet.

Video Abstract

01. Research Inquiry

Modern urban existence, with the physical barriers, has increasingly detached human sensory experience from soil ecology. Scientific textbooks confirm that a vast, complex network of life exists beneath our feet. However, this knowledge often remains confined to laboratory microscopes, severed from the public’s daily experience.

In the biology lab, I observed that the randomness and order displayed during the growth of microbial colonies possess an aesthetic logic that surpasses conventional human design. However, traditional observation relies heavily on the mediation of precision instruments. This prompted my core research question:

How can the inherent aesthetics of microbial life be liberated from the confines of microscope?

Soil microbial colonies

02. Methodology: Chromogenic Visualization

Addressing this question required moving beyond traditional dyeing pigments. I adapted the 'Chromogenic Reaction' principle from biotechnology, specifically adapting the classic Blue-White Screening technique used in molecular biology.

Distinct from the physical adhesion of traditional printing and dyeing, this is a "growth-based" dyeing process driven by biochemical reactions. I introduced specific sugar substrates containing pigment groups into the culture medium. When different types of soil microbes ingest these substrates, the specific enzymes secreted by the microbes cleave pigment groups from the molecular chains.

With sustained metabolic activity, free pigment groups accumulate around the cells and undergo Oxidative Polymerization, eventually precipitating as visible color on the fabric fibers.

Chromogenic Mechanisms

This exploratory work required establishing a novel methodology. Through repeated control experiments testing various chromogenic agents and different fabrics, adjusting culture conditions (temperature, humidity, ambient light, and oxygen concentration), refining fixation formulas and setting up time-lapse photography, I established a standardized "Soil-Textile Co-culture" workflow. This workflow successfully "fixes" the fleeting metabolic dynamics of microbes into archival textile patterns.

Color Development 1

Color Development 2

Different textile materials testing

Microbial growth patterns

Color testing

Cotton Samples

03. Experimental Workflow

The process spans from soil sampling, centrifugal extraction, and substrate inoculation to constant-temperature incubation and autoclave sterilization. The entire workflow functions dually as an artistic production process and a rigorous scientific assay, designed to record the unique ecological “signature” of microbial communities from different habitats.

04. Methodological Evolution: Biological Tie-Dye

After mastering the basic chromogenic process, the research entered a second phase: How can we introduce human design order into natural randomness? Inspired by traditional Chinese Tie-Dye crafts, I attempted to regulate microbial growth behavior through physical intervention.

Unlike traditional tie-dye, which creates patterns by physically blocking dye, the "Tie-Dye" here is used to restructure the Micro-environment. By specifically folding and binding the fabric, I artificially create gradient differences in Oxygen Availability and Water Content across different regions of the cloth.

Experimental results show that these micro-environmental differences directly induce changes in microbial metabolic states—colonies in oxygen-rich zones present vastly different visual spectra compared to those in hypoxic zones. The final artifacts are no longer products of pure chance. Instead, they represent an organic synthesis of a 'human-designed physical skeleton' and 'localized natural emergence."

The Design Process of Bio-Tie-dye Patterns

Fabric Folding Methods

Ultimately, I produced four large-scale works measuring 180cm × 50cm. The overall structure follows my Tie-dye design, while the countless minute details were autonomously generated by the microbial growth-creating unique, non-replicable patterns.

Large-scale work (180cm × 50cm)

05. Comparative Study: Geographical Diversity

A Chinese proverb states, 'the landscape nutures its people' reflects how environment fundamentally shapes life. Soil acts both an ecological cornerstone and a record of regional climate characteristics and human activity. This research further utilizes the process as a tool for environmental visualization, comparing soil samples from Beijing (Urban Plain) and Qinghai (Plateau Farmland).

Under identical culture conditions, the two sample sets produced distinct patterns in terms of color saturation, colony morphology, and distribution density. These intuitive visual differences vividly demonstrate how geography and human activity shape micro-ecology. It reveals that even at an invisible scale, environmental distinctions are concrete and profound.

06. Future Plan

To deepen the interpretation of these visual-biological correlations, the future research is twofold:

Scientific Validation: I have initiated Metagenomic Sequencing on the soil samples to obtain scientific evidence. I expect to precisely analyze the microbial types and interspecies interactions within the communities.

Cultural & Ecological Expansion: I plan to expand the scope by analyzing soils from diverse regions (varying climates and geology) and habitats (farmland, forests, wetlands and grasslands). Correlating visual patterns with genetic data, I aim to further explore the hidden and complex symbiotic relationships between the environment, soil microbes, and human society.

Functional Correlation Analysis of Soil Microorganisms
in Beijing and Qinghai

Species Difference Analysis of Soil Microorganisms
in Beijing and Qinghai

The exhibition venue

13th International Fiber Art Biennale (From Lausanne to Beijing), Beijing, 2025
Undergraduate Graduation Exhibition of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, 2025
China (Hefei) International Science and Art Week, Insititute of Plasma Physics, CAS, 2024