The Umbrellas Project
“The Umbrellas” by Christo opened simultaneously in Japan, an hour’s drive north of Tokyo and in the United States, an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles.
Delayed by one day due to a storm, which killed one of the workers in Japan, 1,340 blue umbrellas unfurled in Japan and 1,760 yellow umbrellas unfurled in California.
Each umbrella was 20 feet tall and 28 feet in diameter. In both countries the umbrellas dotted the hillsides like sprouting flowers. Despite their immense size the hillsides that held them dwarfed their appearance.
I was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, 45 miles north of the Umbrella installation. I left for Los Angeles in 1975 to begin my third year of college.
I used my photographs of the Umbrellas, also included in this series, taken in 1991 and photographs I’ve taken of my old hometown from 1984 through 2011 to create this re-imagining as a tribute to this monumental event.
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All images from Umbrella Piece have been collected and published by onodream Press