Blue Sheet Project: Home

I wrapped my own family home. The work was constructed with 50 blue sheets and 650 metres of rope, with the cooperation of five family members; an homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Wrapped Reichstag. We then inhabited the cocoon for 24 hours. While we experienced only what was inside the skin, the small blue dot was inserted into the urban landscape.

After the occupation, every sheet was donated to the local Disaster Management Section for future relief work, returning the material to its original purpose.

When I travelled through the Noto Peninsula five months after the May 2023 offshore earthquake, I was struck by the sheer number of blue sheets covering houses in the town. However, there was one house completely flattened, untouched by even a single sheet.

The image crystallised an idea: a blue sheet is, by nature, a makeshift material. Conversely, the act of placing a blue tarp is a sign that people still believe “there’s time”, and an act of protection born from that belief. In other words, a blue tarp always enfolds something that is still alive.