"Ueno" from Erica Ward's 2024 series, "Yamanote Bonsai"

Ueno is a mashup of history and cultures. The Ueno Station building is a rare architectural remainder from the 1930s, the Ameyoko shopping street has the chaotic energy of an Asian street market, the izakaya clustered user the tracks filled with exuberant day drinkers give a delightful grittiness even to the sunniest of weekday afternoons. Even the red pagoda-style Benten-do temple looks somehow temporally or geographically out of place in Tokyo.

Ueno Park is famous for its cherry blossom trees, so this bonsai is a cherry tree. I picked a Chinese-inspired design for the bowl, with lotus motifs as a nod to the Lotus that grown in Shinobazu pond.

Original Erica Ward Illustration watercolor design "Yamanote Bonsai: Ueno" in A4 (210x297mm) print. Unsigned, open edition.

Printed in Kyoto on Vent Nouveau 195kg paper