Gigantic task

"Elephants are quite docile. Normally they will not attack humans. However, they've long been used in performances. I've seen in some tourist attractions, trainers beating their elephants with metal bars, and the elephants covered in injuries," Liang says.

In the meantime, Liang happened to have been working on an "ecological denim" collection, as she wanted to draw attention to pollution caused by the fabric's manufacturing process.

"It is reported that the water used to produce denim jeans is poisonous, posing serious danger to the environment and people's health. The damage is appalling in the coastal regions of China where jeans are mass-produced," Liang says.

Intending to call for the public to recycle denim garments and put an end to their production, Liang designed the collection with entirely second-hand denims donated by her friends, students and factories from their excess stock. "Just like organ implants, useless denim products can be used for something meaningful."

For Liang, denim was the perfect material for her elephant installation.

"Denim is an international textile representing consumerism," she says, adding that it is also a rare fabric that is thick enough to be shaped.

Having decided on the subject and the material, Liang again called for denim donations and the garments this time along with the previous collection added to some 200 pieces.

Liang then categorized the garments based on color, thickness and texture, and she made a preliminary sketch on glass, and then got a steel frame made. She spent six months hand-stitching the denim onto the frame. Determined to maximize the effects with refined sewing techniques, Liang did most of the work by herself.

But the denim was not simply wrapped around the frames.

"I made use of the original features of jeans-the pockets, cuffs and different colors- and presented them with traditional and haute couture methods to simulate the wounds," Liang says.