Ms.Donatella Bagnoli, a city official of Poggibonsi in Italy, visited the Japan pavilion at the Biennale three times and conceived the idea of a kaki planting in Poggibonsi’s youth center.
Like Nagasaki, the city of Poggibonsi experienced air-raids during WWII, and to unite the two cities’ wish for peace, a series of workshops were held. In them an artwork was presented, where colorful kaki “leaves” with messages of peace hang all over the room. Moreover, a booklet was produced, which described the Nagasaki bombing, the air-raids against Poggibonsi, and the Kaki Project as well as the course of the events which led to the planting in Poggibonsi and the details of the workshops.
The planting was a great success and attended by local school children, their parents and interested citizens, about 300 people in total. The planting was done in a very original manner: each of the participant children sprinkled a spoonful of soil over the seedling, which is based upon Ms. Bagnoli’s idea of “feeding” the tree. The performance was intended to raise the children’s awareness of their participation in the event and of their affection for the kaki tree and also to enable them to connect the growth of the seedling and that of their own. The children participated, with their heads, arms, and waists decorated with cloths with their names on them, and above them hang a lot of the “leaves” which bore such words and phrases as “tree,” “kaki,” “the Kaki Tree Project 2000,” “friendship,” and “children” in Japanese. The seedling was planted with lots of love and nutrition from the children, and the children and the seedling were united in a most natural way. Just as the organizers hoped, the children’s memories were, are, and will be nurtured through the growth of the seedling.
