Forming and dissipating like clouds, cherry blossoms inflate and burst in the softest little explosions all around the world, swift and silent, finished in a matter of weeks before they disappear again for another full year. Cherry Blossom shows a traditional Chinese paper cut of a cherry blossom tree in the middle of its blooming moments, with some flowers fully opened and others still waiting to come out of their tightly held buds. The black outline has thick areas to form the tree trunk while curling and twisting in thinner forms to create each delicate pedal of every flower, branch and root from a single cut piece, as in the traditional method of paper cutting. Against the brickwork rice paper-canvas, the roots of this tree curl over an invisible slope, as if growing out of a rock or leaning out and over from the top of a cliff, and with the cloud-like cherry blossoms holding the tree up in midair, and the tree’s state of suspension between winter and spring, the cherry blossom’s identity as the city of Shanghai in its window of blinding change is complete. Three LED birds flutter from branch to branch as the spirit of its residents and visitors whose imaginations are lit up and joined in collective energy, as the global population recognizes and appreciates the phenomenon together. [Pete Bradt]