Who Yoko Ono Confessed Her Love to and What Her Exhibition in London Reveals

Yoko Ono's exhibition opened in London, marking her 91st birthday on February 18th. Daria Konovalenko, curator and creator of the "In the White Cube" project, shares insights about the grand retrospective at the Tate Modern gallery. In February, Tate Tate Modern, a London museum of contemporary art, launched the UK's most extensive exhibition dedicated to the works of Yoko Ono—a Fluxus group member, activist, and musician. "Yoko Ono: Mind Music" spans over seven decades of her artistic practice, unveiling a world where art acts as a bridge to the deepest feelings and ideas. This retrospective not only showcases her career but also reflects on love in all its forms: from a source of inspiration to a destructive force. The conceptual artist, now a pop culture icon, received a well-deserved retrospective.

Love for the World and Earth

"Piece is powerful"—a massive intervention greets art lovers on one of the Thames embankments. Born in Tokyo in 1933, Yoko Ono, who would become a legend of American and Japanese avant-garde, survived the horrors of World War II, shaping her lifelong pursuit of peace. Her family moved to New York in 1940, returned to Japan the following year, and spent much of 1945 in bomb shelters during bombings. These experiences, followed by post-war hunger in Tokyo, instilled in her the sense of being an "outsider," a theme that permeates her work from early performances to global anti-war campaigns with John Lennon. For instance, Ono and her husband used their honeymoon as a platform for Vietnam War protests.

Through her artworks, Ono expresses her boundless love for the planet. Projects like "Add Colour (Refugee Boat)" and "Acorns for Peace" demonstrate her commitment to ecology and humanitarianism, prompting action and reflection on environmental crises and migration.

Love for the Mother

A section of the London exhibition is dedicated to the "My Mommy Is Beautiful" project. First implemented in 2004, its current London iteration features a 15-meter canvas with hanging notes. Visitors can attach photos of their mothers and share personal messages. This installation serves as both a personal and collective declaration of love for mothers worldwide, bridging personal memories and emotions with universal values. It offers a chance to say "thank you," "sorry," "I hate you," or to share the love we feel for our mothers.

Love for Participation

Yoko Ono frequently employs "participatory" techniques, such as "write a wish note and hang it on a tree." She has always believed in the power of interaction. Her interactive installations, like "White Chess Set" and "Wish Tree," encourage visitors to actively participate, transforming art into a collaborative act of creation and love. These works invite reflection and shared experiences, sometimes allowing visitors to "finish" an artwork or take a piece of it home. Thus, she has created numerous "instructions" for problem-solving or military helmets filled with sky puzzle pieces that visitors can take from the exhibition. Drawing on museum walls, outlining one's shadow, hammering a nail into canvas, playing chess, becoming a performer, or leaving a wish for future generations are all possible within Ono's projects.

Ono's performances, from "Cut Piece" to "Bag Piece," explore themes of giving, receiving, and transformation through participation. These works reflect her belief in art as a means for personal and collective healing. "Cut Piece" from 1964, where Ono calmly sat on stage while the audience cut her clothes with scissors, revealing the artist, became a classic of feminist art. Love for Freedom

Once considered the world's most hated woman, Yoko Ono, now a pop culture icon, has earned well-deserved recognition half a century later. The widely travelled Ono became an easy target for racist and misogynistic insults. She was called a witch, blamed for the breakup of The Beatles, and her art was ridiculed. Hence, freedom of expression, movement, and thought became a key theme in Ono's works. From instructions encouraging flight to works inspired by the sky as a symbol of boundlessness and peace, her art reminds us of the value of freedom in all its manifestations.

Love for John

Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon significantly shaped her legend in culture and pop culture, making it difficult for the mass audience to see her as an independent creative entity rather than an addition to her star partner. Their meeting story, as officially promoted by John and Yoko, involved Lennon being deeply moved by an exhibit: a ladder leading up to a magnifying glass hanging from the ceiling in a room with white walls. Climbing the ladder, viewers were to use the magnifying glass to read the word "Yes" written on a canvas suspended from the ceiling. Lennon, expecting some trick that would render his efforts to climb up in vain, was pleasantly surprised to find the positive message. Their relationship is legendary for its pursuits, extravagant acts, and drug use. Ono was not just Lennon's companion but also his guru, mentor, and muse.

However, the Tate Modern exhibition covers Ono's early career years before she entered Lennon's orbit, making it even more valuable. Her artistic language had already formed by the time she met the Beatles legend. Her life before Lennon was marked by significant achievements, but it's impossible to separate Ono's solo art from her life with Lennon. Their connection evolved into a powerful creative partnership, permeated with love and understanding. Their joint projects, such as the "Bed-ins for Peace," documented in a famous photo series at the Amsterdam Hilton, turned them into canonical figures of pop culture.

Love for Citrus

The anthology "Grapefruit," published in 1964, represents a significant contribution to conceptual art. This collection of instructional pieces by Yoko Ono became the fruit of her love for language and the power of words to inspire action, reminding us of the strength of simple ideas. The small book, containing a series of instructions, activates the reader's creative imagination, turning them into a participant in the art-making process. Task examples range from simple actions like "Hide until everyone goes home, forgets about you, or dies" to more abstract and meditative ones. The title "Grapefruit" was chosen because Ono considered the grapefruit a hybrid of orange and lemon, identifying herself with it as a "spiritual hybrid" (in reality, the grapefruit accidentally arose from a cross between an orange and a pomelo).

Image: Yoko Ono, "Half-A-Room" (1967). Half-A-Wind Show at Lisson Gallery, London, 1967

? CLAY PERRY / TATE MODERN

Original article: https://style.rbc.ru/impressions/65d303719a7947798130ea19