Opera Omaha puts on three to four performances each year. This year, the production of Madama Butterfly was extra special with internationally known artist Jun Kaneko completing the set design. Madama Butterfly, in short, follows a tragic love story that results in the main character, Butterfly, taking her life with a sword in her home country of Japan.

To represent this scene, we stuck a red push pin through the heart of a butterfly, like an insect on display. The white and red represent the Japanese flag, as well as Butterfly’s innocence and hope before dying from a broken heart.

The client loved it so much that it is printed and framed in their offices. Jun Kaneko himself said this is, “very delicate, beautiful, and telling.”