Sri Lanka Bonsai Association will be holding its Annual Bonsai Exhibition, Reflections 2023

Colombo (News 1st) - After a lapse of 3 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis in the country, the Sri Lanka Bonsai Association will be holding its Annual Bonsai Exhibition, Reflections 2023 - Living Images, on the 13th and 14th of May, at the Women's International Club, Colombo 07.

"There will be about 100 very well done Bonsai pieces exhibited. I'm sure everybody who comes there will enjoy themselves and can view some really good specimens of Bonsai. Not only that, on 4pm on both days there will be a demonstration free of charge for people who come during that time where we will take you through the basic steps of Bonsai," said Naveen Sooriyarachchi, Past President of the Sri Lanka Bonsai Association.

"It's a very rare experience, when it comes to local viewership or the public because you generally see seomthing like Bonsai only in Japan or only through the media so now you have the opportunity of seeing the art of Bonsai locally in one place and also at the same time people who are interested in learning the art of it may visit and meet the experts themselves who have developed this living art, living Bonsai. This year our annual exhibition will open to the public from 10am - 6pm, and I humbly invite all of you who are interested in this art to visit and indulge yourself in the beautiful art of Bonsai," said Attorney Janaka Basuriya, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Bonsai Association.

The origin of Bonsai, the Japanese and East Asian art of growing and training miniature trees in containers,was from the traditional Chinese art form of Penjing. From the 6th century onward, Imperial embassy personnel and Buddhist students from Japan visited and returned from mainland China. They brought back many Chinese ideas and goods, including container plantings. Over time, these container plantings began to appear in Japanese writings and representative art. Following World war II, several trends made the Japanese tradition of bonsai increasingly accessible to Western and world audiences.

And eventually, the art of Bonsai reached Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka Bonsai Association invites enthusiasts of all ages to join them and be part of Reflections 2023.