Blog Task: Christo and Jeanne-Claude

During one of the AEP lessons, we were tasked to investigate an object and wrap it like how Christo and Jeanne-Claude did in their works. One of their most famous works will be the Wrapped Coast. Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped a 1 mile stretch of Australian coast using fabric and 36 miles of rope to transform the landscape.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1968-69

Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were interested in exploring the transformative effect wrapping could give. The concealment of objects using fabric or polyethylene allows the viewer to perceive the whole environment with a new consciousness and to reappraise the objects beneath the space in which it exists.

One thing unique about their Wrapped Coast is the limited duration of ten weeks during which it lasted. According to Jeanne-Claude in an Interview ,

“Limiting the duration is a way of endowing our work with those feelings of love and tenderness for things that do not last – like childhood or like our own lives.” 

To replicate this short-lived nature of their work, Fang Ni and I tried to finish wrapping and un-wrapping our work within 20 minutes.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works were also highly environmental, whether rural or urban. Hence, we decided to pick on the unusual flower we found lying on the grass as one of our subject matters. 

We started off by opening up the flower and putting it in the hole of a wooden bench. After exposing the internal features of the flower, we were surprised to realise that the flower actually looked much more visually appealing than when we first thought it would be.

After which, we wrapped the flower to the wooden bench using cling wrap. By wrapping these two together, we aim to present a juxtaposition of the origins of the table (nature) and the manufactured table itself. While the intricate details of the flower are hidden beneath the translucent wrapping, the essence of the structures is revealed under the daylight, giving the work an airy and nomadic impression. Once wrapped, the combination of the two takes on a new identity.

Looking back now, we could actually have extended our idea by wrapping the entire wooden bench on top of the flower, so as to combine the two subject matters as a whole. However, due to the constraints of limited cling wrap and time, we ended up wrapping only parts of the table.

Nevertheless, this activity has broadened my horizons and perspectives on looking at any object/ person. You’ll never know if one has a different identity beneath her “wrappings”.

“We view things not only from different sides, but with different eyes; we have no wish to find them alike.” - Blaise Pascal