Bonsai: Artficial on artificial

RISOGRAPH PRINTED ZINE

A reworked zine project done in printmaking class during my 2019 exchange in Columbia College Chicago. The first edition of this zine was created in 2016.

In the 2016  zine project, I was assigned to do a zine on the Chinese Garden neighbourhood. After a trip to the area, I decided to focus on the bonsai garden in Chinese Garden. I have always found Bonsai plants to be peculiar as they seem to be artificial forms of nature, every plant a carefully crafted piece of art. This inspired me to honour the artifically organic forms of bonsai in this zine. 

Mirroring the way the bonsai plants are strategically framed by a door arc or window within the intricately-sectioned bonsai garden, each page of this zine acts as an imaginary platform in which the pots of bonsai are arranged upon. The bonsai plants are framed and juxtaposed against a "window" of architectural lines mapped on photographs of the housing estates in the Chinese Garden neighbourhood.