The illustrator and architect Ana Aragão will present My Plan for Japan at the Portugal Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka, from 26 to 28 April. This series continues the No Plan for Japan project, previously exhibited at the Museu do Oriente (Lisbon) and Hillside Forum (Tokyo), highlighting her artistic interpretation of the historical relationship between Portugal and Japan.
Her work is inspired by Nanban screens and Japanese visual landscapes, with a special focus on O Auto da Barca do Efémero, a floating Kurofune that evokes both the Portuguese ships that arrived in Japan nearly 500 years ago and the grand structures of traditional Japanese festivals.
With an internationally recognised career, Ana Aragão was selected as one of the “200 Best Illustrators Worldwide” by the Luerzer’s Archive, represented Portugal at the Venice Biennale in 2014, and has collaborated with brands such as ARTWORKS, Vista Alegre, and Tapeçarias Ferreira de Sá, among others. Her work explores the urban imaginary and paper architecture, challenging the boundaries between drawing and construction.
