In autumn, Japanese artist Saki Matsumoto immersed herself in the living organism of South Bohemian Kraffer Garden during her Magic Carpets residency. Through visual workshops, storytelling and imaginative activities with children and their accompanying adults, she created a space in which personal stories, the memory of the place, and both individual and collective imagination could intersect. It became a setting where children could share their ideas – verbally and visually – and where their imagination directly informed the artist’s work, which responded to their creations. This collaborative process resulted in a series of outcomes in which the garden’s historical layers intertwined with fantastical creatures born from the children’s imagination and Matsumoto’s artistic practice.
During her autumn residency, realised in collaboration with Budweis European Capital of Culture 2028, Matsumoto continued her long-standing artistic practice, which draws on diverse mythologies, Japanese folklore, Czech and Moravian folk traditions, and the specific character of the places she engages with. These influences are sensitively combined with natural motifs and imaginary creatures. In familiar settings, she introduces playfulness, poetry and gentle humour; in new worlds, curiosity and surprise.
Matsumoto perceived Kraffer Garden as a living, layered organism – one that carries memories of the past while continuously evolving. Established in the mid-18th century, the garden came under the care of the Kraffer family in the 19th century, when it was home to a renowned horticultural business. After significant decline in the 20th century, it has recently been revitalised as both a horticultural site and a gathering place. The memory of the garden naturally intertwines with newly forming layers of meaning and with the community that has gradually grown around it. This dynamic relationship between the environment and its visitors became a central framework of the project: the garden shapes those who visit it, while simultaneously being shaped by them.
During the residency, Matsumoto organised a series of creative workshops for children. Participants included students from the Vítězslav Novák Elementary Art School in Jindřichův Hradec, children from the forest school Živě v trávě in Jarošov nad Nežárkou, and groups of children visiting the garden with their accompanying adults. Each child was invited to create their own garden creature and to complement it with a story reflecting both the character of the place and their imagination. The process unfolded gradually – Matsumoto carefully balanced spontaneous creativity with more structured phases, allowing children to fully develop their ideas while also learning to perceive the space, its history, and each other’s work.
The children were first introduced to the garden’s story through traditional Japanese kamishibai theatre. For this occasion, Matsumoto created painted backdrops and figures, and together with Barbora Hauserová from Kraffer Garden and curator Alena Kotyza, presented the history of the place in a clear, engaging and stimulating manner. The storytelling combined visual imagery, participatory engagement and space for spontaneous responses, making the garden’s story vivid, open and easily accessible.
Before creating their own garden creatures, the children worked collaboratively on a long sheet of paper, freely exploring their imagination and drawing inspiration from the surrounding environment. This exercise helped them attune to the creative process and enjoy shared time together. It also functioned as a form of brainstorming, similar to methods used in graphic design to generate and organise ideas. During this activity, children played with their imagination – sometimes sketching early versions of garden creatures, at other times depicting flowers, trees, atmospheres or whatever emerged intuitively.
Inspired by the garden’s atmosphere and their own imagination, the children then created their garden creatures using a monoprint technique. They worked in two layers – the first representing the creature’s body, the second composed of plant-shaped cut-outs. Each creature was given a name and a short story, which the children shared at the end of the process. They reflected on what their creature does in the garden, how it might help or harm, its characteristics, size and age, and the season in which it is active.
Among the stories created were the following:
Balivka is so small that people cannot see her with the naked eye, yet she is very important in the garden. She cares for the flowers throughout the year, protecting them in winter so they can bloom in spring. During the day she enjoys small apples that fall from the trees, and in the evening she rests. She is kind, and everyone in the garden loves her.
Autumnie and Leafy appear as summer turns into autumn. Autumnie loves autumn more than any other season – hence her name. This year she is twenty years old, and together with tiny Leafy they form an inseparable pair. Autumnie helps the trees shed their leaves, while Leafy gathers them. Living high in the treetops, they work together to help both small and large trees regain their strength for spring. They sit among the branches, swing their legs, and delight in the surrounding colours, showing themselves to humans only rarely.
The Royal Grass Snake arrived under very special circumstances. In the centre of the garden stands a fountain where a carnivorous plant once bathed. Suddenly, it spat out a meteorite that struck a stone snake statue. The stone cracked, and a living grass snake hatched from it. Since then, she has lived in the garden and loves nothing more than to swim. Whenever the garden is watered, she splashes in the water, giggling with delight.
Drawing on the children’s workshop descriptions, curator Alena Kotyza wrote a story inspired by the garden creatures. Matsumoto illustrated the text, incorporating the children’s work, and oversaw the graphic design. The resulting zine was made freely available in the garden during the exhibition. Matsumoto also created twenty-eight character designs based on the workshop outcomes, which were exhibited and dispersed throughout the greenhouses.
During the residency, Matsumoto also produced a large-format screenprint inspired by the garden creatures and the memories of Mrs Milena Maryšková. Contact with her was facilitated by the Kraffer Garden collective, which has long documented the memories of local witnesses connected to the site. Mrs Maryšková recalled the flourishing of the Kraffer family’s horticultural business during the interwar period and its subsequent decline after the war. In conversation with curator Alena Kotyza, she described the garden’s annual cycles and celebrations, the flowers once grown there, and their scents and colours. She also reflected on visiting the garden with her mother in childhood and spoke of her lasting connection to Jindřichův Hradec, where – despite no longer living there – she has contributed to protecting urban greenery and preserving numerous trees.
Alena Kotyza wrote a lyrical poetic text to accompany the work, drawing on Mrs Maryšková’s recollections and weaving them together with motifs from the children’s creations. Personal memories are thus brought to life alongside the fantastical creatures emerging from the workshops.
The residency concluded symbolically with the opening of the exhibition Stories of the Garden on 1 November, held across three greenhouses in Kraffer Garden and remaining freely accessible until 24 November. The first greenhouse presented as many of the children’s works as possible – particularly monoprints – allowing the children to see their creations in the exhibition space and share them with their families, often resulting in moments of palpable joy. The second greenhouse showcased Matsumoto’s earlier works – books, prints and pieces thematically connected to nature – including the large-format screenprint created during the residency. The third greenhouse featured the kamishibai theatre, complemented by historical photographs of the garden from the interwar period. The zine and the collection of garden creature stories were also available to visitors.
The opening was accompanied by a dialogical guided tour led by Alena Kotyza and Saki Matsumoto, offering insight into the creative process and the artist’s sources of inspiration. Following the exhibition, the children’s works were returned to them.
Stories of the Garden demonstrates how a participatory artistic intervention can connect a place’s historical memory with both collective and individual imagination. Kraffer Garden became a space in which children’s stories, fantastical creatures and historical layers converged, creating a living dialogue between past and present perceptions of the site. The children’s works and narratives were fully respected and integrated into the final presentation, fostering creativity, environmental sensitivity and awareness of the relationship between history and the present. The exhibition synthesised these processes, offering visitors an opportunity to explore the garden through both historical and fantastical lenses while revealing the collaborative nature of the creative process. The project illustrates how artistic practice can actively contribute to preserving a place’s memory, encouraging community engagement and generating new interpretations of a historically rich environment.
Saki Matsumoto is a Japanese artist living between Prague and Tokyo. Her practice spans printmaking, illustration, ceramics, textile design and painting, drawing inspiration from Japanese mythology, Czech and Moravian folklore, and natural motifs, which she combines with imaginary creatures. She studied graphic design at Kuwasawa Design College in Tokyo and at Central Saint Martins in London, and illustration, graphic design and animation at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. She is a member of the Tokyo Illustrators Society and Hollar, and her work has received awards in Japan, the Czech Republic, the USA, the UK and China.
Artist: Saki Matsumoto
Curator: Alena Kotyza
Text: Alena Kotyza
Photography: Pavel Balek, Petr Miloš
Project Manager: Anna Davis
Participation and Communities: Lucie Boušková
Production: Iva Jedličková
Special thanks: the children, students, teachers and staff of Vítězslav Novák Elementary Art School; the forest school Živě v trávě; Barbora Hauserová; Michaela Zudová; colleagues at Kraffer Garden; Milena Maryšková; and Hana Fryčová.
The project was created as part of a residency in collaboration with Budweis European Capital of Culture 2028 and the European platform Magic Carpets.
Curatorial text by Alena Kotyza