Christo’s pink-wrapped islands preserved at Fort Lauderdale museum

The Surrounded Islands Documentation Exhibition spans several rooms on the second floor of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, the new permanent home for art and documentation about Christo's 1983 project that wrapped 11 islands in Biscayne Bay in bright pink fabric in 1983. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

By Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com

Stepping into the latest featured exhibit at Fort Lauderdale’s NSU Art Museum is to enter a time machine.

One that immediately transits to an iconic and colorful moment in South Florida’s history.

The year is 1983. The color is pink — a very vibrant, saturated pink.

For those who lived in the region at that time the memory is so deeply embedded that the association instantly summons a single name: Christo.

The eccentric Bulgarian artist drew attention from around the world to Miami when he wrapped luminous pink skirts around 11 small islands in Biscayne Bay in an audacious display of ephemeral public art.

The spectacle only lasted for two weeks, but more than 40 years later the images remain indelible. It will be preserved for those who recall it to revisit and subsequent generations to discover at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.

The museum is now the permanent home of the “Surrounded Islands Documentation Exhibition,” gifted by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation and unveiled in February 2025.

Aerial photos show the surrounded islands as a row of pink flowers flaoting in Biscayne Bay that briefly caught the attention of South Florida and the world.Christo did it for pure artistic beauty. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

NSU exhibit depicts grand scale of ‘Surrounded Islands’

Although the memory of the event remained clear due to the uniqueness of the project and all of the acclaim and controversy that accompanied it, I gained a much stronger appreciation for what it entailed from the exhibition.

Spanning several rooms of the second floor of the museum, the presentation is set up to convey the grand scope of the project. That is established by an expansive floor-to-ceiling photo mural at the entrance to the exhibit showing one of the pink-wrapped islands with the Miami skyline in the background.

There is also a massive swatch of the pink fabric stretched the width of the opening exhibitions space. Christo used 6.5 million square feet of pink polypropylene woven fabric, which extended 200 feet outward from the perimeter of each island.

Meanwhile there are videos playing on giant screens showing work on “Surrounded Islands,” all bathed in the pink glow that permeated the project. One shows the view from underneath the floating fabric.

Giants rolls of pink polypropylene woven fabric were used to wrap 11 islands in Biscayne Bay. (Fran Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

Christo said he chose pink to wrap the islands because it was highly artificial and presented a stunning contrast to the natural colors of the marine environment in Biscayne Bay. It was also very Miami, especially lin the Miami Vice era of the early ’80s.

A large sample of the pink polypropylene woven fabric Christo used is on display in the ‘Surrounded Islands’ exhibit at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

‘Surrounded Islands’ meaning open to interpretation

Seeing it now close up — the fabric samples, photographs and preliminary renderings — raises the same question that was prominent at the time.

Why pink?

The answer is provided in Christo’s words: “It was very important to have a strong arti-fici-ality on the project. The color, for example, is not related to organic perception, like a yellow, orange, blue or green, but is a color that is highly artificial, and capable of absorbing reflections. Pink is a very fragile color — incredibly changeable.”

It is also so Miami, particularly in the early ’80s — the Miami Vice era.

“We wanted to look at the way people in Miami live, between land and water: the color pink reflected the tropics and Latin culture,” Christo said in a 2018 interview with the Miami Herald.

The Christo exhibition is right out of a time capsule of that time period.

It includes more than 40 preparatory drawings that were done by Christo during the planning stage as well as photographs, engineering surveys, environmental studies, permits, correspondence, scale models and fabric samples. Also on display are cables, floats and anchors that were used to bind the colorful collars to the islands and secure them to the limestone of the bay bottom.

Ultimately, Christo’s accomplishment was celebrated. Plenty of people, though, were mystified by it.

“Christo said, there’s no message in it. It’s just beauty. Any interpretation is legitimate. If they see a giant Pepto-Bismol pill, they see a giant Pepto-Bismol pill,” Vladimir Yavachev, Director of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, said when the exhibit debuted.

“Every person’s interpretation is absolutely legitimate. Christo never liked art as propaganda — religious or political propaganda. He just wanted to create art for art’s sake, for the pure beauty of it.”

Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude collaborated on many for large-scale puplic art projects over 60 years. He has credited her with the idea of wrapping the islands in colorful fabric.

‘Surrounded Islands’ most colorful of Christo’s public art displays

Christo, who was 84 when he died in 2020, and his wife/collaborator Jeanne-Claude were known for large-scale, site-specific environmental installations in a career that spanned 60 years. Notable projects included wrapping Paris ’ Arc de Triomphe and Berlin ’s Reichstag building in fabric, and installing saffron-colored fabric gates in New York City’s Central Park that appeared as a shimmering golden river through the bare branches of the trees in winter.

Visit Fran Davis's Etsy store for an assortment of handcrafted jewelry. — Visit Fran Davis’s Etsy store for an assortment of handcrafted jewelry.

None of them were as eye-catching as the bright pink against the turquoise water of Biscayne Bay.

The visuals shed an appealing light on the region at a time when Miami was reeling from portrayal in a Time magazine as “Paradise Lost,” and a subsequent article titled “South Florida: Trouble in Paradise,” which highlighted drug trafficking, murders, racial unrest and economic strife.

While positive attention was welcomed, there was considerable skepticism and resistance during the three years of planning and seeking approval before the unveiling of “Surrounded Islands” on May 7, 1983.

Was the artist trying to put lipstick on a pig?

“This is the part about public art which was very important to Christo and Jean Claude. Usually people who come to the museum are interested in art. With public art you’re confronted with it without having any interest in it,” Yavachev said.

“You can hate it, you can love it, but you’re still talking about art.”

Christo used a system of cables, floats and anchors to bind the colorful pink fabric to the islands and secure them to the limestone of the bay bottom. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

The ‘Surrounded Islands’ includes more than 40 preparatory drawings that were done by Christo during the planning stage of the project. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

Christo directed a crew of 430 workers to wrap the islands in pink polypropylene woven fabric. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

Exhibit details formidable obstacles Christo faced

Ordinarily, art is a solitary process and only the result is viewed. The exhibition provides a fascinating look, through documents, correspondence, photographs and interviews from the time, how “Surrounded Islands” came together under intense scrutiny.

Working in the marine environment made it arguably Christo’s most logistically challenging project. Remarkably, it was accomplished in three years, compared to others that took as much as 20 years.

“Installation of the fabric was about five days. There’s months and months and months of preparation, but the actual installation is very fast. Then, 14 days later, it’s gone,” Yavachev said.

The actual wrapping of the islands was done by 430 workers. Another crew in a Hialeah warehouse spent several months sewing the pink fabric into 79 different patterns, which Christo tailored to adhere to the contours of each island.

Christo funded the $3.1 million project from sales of his artwork, as he did with all of his public art exhibitions. Still, he faced formidable bureaucratic and legal obstacles.

There were numerous permits to obtain, along with the permission of Florida Gov. Bob Graham, the Miami-Dade County Commission, cities of Miami, North Miami and Miami Shores, the Department of Environmental Regulation and the United States Army.

Finally, it took a court ruling that resolved a lawsuit filed by an environmental group to get the go-ahead.

Christo agreed to pay a sizable fine for any environmental damage from the project. That proved unnecessary.

As part of the agreement, Christo’s crew removed 40 tons of trash that had accumulated on the islands, some of it left by partiers, but also large discarded objects including refrigerator doors, tires, kitchen sinks, mattresses and an abandoned boat.

It took about five days for Christo's workers to wrap 11 islands with massive sheets of pink polypropylene woven fabric, completed May 7, 1983. The pink skirts remained in place for two weeks. (Wolfgang Volz) — It took about five days for Christo’s workers to wrap 11 islands with massive sheets of pink polypropylene woven fabric, completed May 7, 1983. The pink skirts remained in place for two weeks. (Wolfgang Volz)

‘Surrounded Islands’ helped spawn vibrant Miami art scene

The 11 islands, which were created from dredging in Biscayne Bay, spanned seven miles from Baker’s Haulover in northern Miami-Dade County south to the Venetian Causeway. Aerial photos show them as a row of pink flowers that briefly caught the attention of South Florida and the world.

“Surrounded Islands” has been cited as catalyst for an artistic awakening in South Florida as a contemporary art center, paving the way for internationally renowned Art Basel, the Wynwood arts district and more.

It also raised awareness for environmental issues in Biscayne Bay and the region, aided by Christo’s $100,000 donation in original art to Miami-Dade County to establish the Biscayne Bay Preservation Fund.

“This was one thing that put Miami [art] on the map,” Yavachev.

The “Surrounded Islands Documentation Exhibition” will remain on display at Fort Lauderdale’s NSU Art Museum through early 2026. Parts of it will be showcased in subsequent exhibits at the museum.

It is art explaining art. A visually appealing recreation of a unique chapter in South Florida’s past and what it took to make it happen.

All for the lofty ideal of art for art’s sake.

Christo's Surrounded Islands were completed May 7, 1983 and spanned seven miles of Biscayne Bay. — Christo’s Surrounded Islands were completed May 7, 1983 and spanned seven miles of Biscayne Bay.

If you go:

What: Christo and Jeanne-Claude ‘Surrounded Islands Documentation Exhibition’

Where: NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, One East Las Olas Boulevard

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

Admission: Adults, $16; Seniors $10; Military, $8; Students (13-17) and College Students (with valid ID), $5.

Info: https://nsuartmuseum.org/

Also on display at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale:

The art of Dimithry Victor, a 24-year-old Haitian immigrant depicting his interpretation of the American Dream, is on display at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale unitl August 17, 2025. (Craig Davis, craigslegztravels.com)

Dimithry Victor: The American Dream

(Through August 17, 2025)

Dimithry Victor, a 24-year-old Haitian immigrant, offers his view on the American dream through paintings inspired by everything from consumerism and pop culture to the ideals of freedom and individualism.

His work highlights the spectacle of sports, Hollywood, and advertising from the artist’s perspective.

Each painting centers around memories from Victor’s childhood and the cultural imprints left on him by popular American media including television, sports, and the internet. By combining these influences, Victor created a body of work that speaks to the collective experience of many Black people in America.

The paintings not only capture the essence of his upbringing but also illustrate the ways in which those experiences taught him about himself and the community.