hyperbolic crochet coral reef

I went to the Hayward Gallery at Southbank on Sunday afternoon to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef exhibition.  It was the last day of the exhibition in London – I have a habit of leaving things until the last minute.

Many of you will already know about the exhibition, but for those who don’t, it was designed to raise awareness of the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, all through the mathematical wonder of hyperbolic crochet.

I went with my friend Barb, who is currently over from Australia.  She’s actually been to the Great Barrier Reef (jealous!) so was able to comment on the realism of the display (apparently there should be more yellow, but otherwise the coral looks pretty good!)

There was such diversity in the work, with the displays made from so many different yarns in so many different shapes. 

Some of the coral was clearly bright and healthy…

while some displays represented the increasing problem of bleached coral:

Some just looked cute.

If I didn’t have such a ridiculously long knitting queue, I’d love to play around with some hyperbolic crochet shapes.