Ⓒ 2020 Aiman Soliman

Title: Auxetic deformation: birds, sunflowers, reptiles, water lilies, and fish
Date: 2020
Dimensions: 50, 25 cm
Medium: Archival print on fabric, a hanging scroll

Unlike common elastic materials, Auxetic structures become wider when stretched (negative Poisson’s ratio). One could imagine the upper most P1 tiling (birds) placed on a rubber sheet with slits made around the edges of each motif. As the design gets stretched the slits open leaving rhombic voids that transform the regular grid to a semi-regular one (sunflowers). The stretching reaches a maximum level when the rhombic voids become perfect squares (reptiles). If the stretch continues beyond this point, the grid transformation will be reversed passing by another semi-regular phase (water lilies) before returning to the original P1 grid (fish). The artwork is presented as a Japanese or a Chinese hanging scroll.