Visitors leave 500 wishes daily on Yoko Ono’s iconic Wish Trees installation

Yoko Ono's iconic "Wish Tree" installation continues to draw visitors, with an estimated 500 wishes left daily. The artwork, which Ono has staged over 250 times in more than 35 countries, draws inspiration from a Japanese tradition found at Buddhist temples.

Participants are invited to write their hopes and dreams on small paper tags before tying them to the branches of a tree. These wishes then hang among the leaves, resembling budding fruit. The practice transforms a personal, often fleeting thought into a collective call for action.

Ono's very first "Wish Tree," a young grapefruit tree in a wooden box, was first exhibited in 1996 at Santa Monica's Shoshana Wayne Gallery. After the exhibition concluded, the gallery planted the tree on its grounds. The tree held significant meaning for Wayne, who replanted it in her backyard in Pacific Palisades when her gallery relocated in 2018. Tragically, this original tree was lost in a wildfire last year.