Amazing Aussie Bonsai Natives

The upcoming exhibition Bonsai: Generations of Growth at the Japanese Foundation features the works of two generations of Sydney-based practitioners, Megumi and Alex Bennett. Showing for one week only at The Japan Foundation Gallery from April 30th to May 5th.

One of Australia’s top bonsai artists, Megumi Bennett has been practicing bonsai for over 40 years. After observing her grandfather tending to his bonsai plants, Megumi studied the tradition in Japan, along with ikebana (the Japanese flower arranging tradition). After migrating to Australia in 1974, her bonsai training took root here, and she adapted her repertoire to the unique conditions of botanic life, weather, and seasonal changes in Australia. In 1999 Megumi founded the Bonsai Society of Sydney Inc., she is also a member of the Nippon Bonsai Association and Ikebana International. In 2008 Megumi received her bonsai instructor’s qualification from the Nippon Bonsai Association, Japan and was the first non-Japan residing practitioner to receive this accolade. Professional horticulturalist and bonsai teacher Alex Bennett, Megumi’s son, was drawn to bonsai at a young age by the balance of creative expression and working outdoors. Alex’s bonsai skills were refined in 2000, through two years of intensive bonsai training as an apprentice at the pre-eminent bonsai nursery Mansei-en in Omiya, Japan. Their work expresses the Japanese tradition of bonsai in Australian native plants, reflecting their Japanese backgrounds embracing Australian identity.

Cultivated in pots, bonsai are miniature trees reared in a style which conjures images of its full-grown counterparts in nature, or evokes feelings in its viewers. Practitioners are attuned to weather and climate, as well as their bonsai’s natural traits and their needs in order to sculpt a naturally proportioned tree that looks untouched by human hands. Over time, bonsai are said to gradually reflect their cultivator’s mind, and eventually their character.

Cultivating miniaturised trees across a range of species, Megumi and Alex Bennett’s collection of bonsai show a range of techniques uniquely in tune with their Australian environment. While their traditional training in Japan instilled knowledge based on Japan’s distinct seasons, weather patterns and species selection, the two generations of bonsai practitioners have translated this knowledge to the Australian context by experimenting with local species and techniques over decades.

The exhibition features miniature versions of the Port Jackson Fig—well known and loved trees in Sydney streets—sculpted in playful forms.