Yoko Ono

   

Born in Japan 1933 to wealthy parents, the legendary Yoko Ono later moved to the United States with her mother and other siblings. Ono was only two-years-old, when her family came settled in San Francisco that is where she was reunited with her father for the first time. Soon afterwards, however, the whole family returned to Japan to escape the wave of anti-Japanese feeling that swept the United States following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. (Yoko Ono Biography). The family eventually returned back to the United States and settled in New York City. She was the wife of musician the late John Lennon.  

Ono began her art career in New York City and developed a great interest for poetry at the same time. She was a member of the Fluxus movement which was inspired by the Dada movement during the 1960’s. She was considered to be radical by many because of her relationship with the feminist movement and her social and political views. Her work was predominantly postmodernism and not fully received by many. Her ability to create great art has made her acceptable in the Avant Garde art world. Back in the mid 1960s, having a female Japanese artist with eccentric material was something not commonly seen during that period, especially in Western culture. (ukessays)

In (Chadwick 361) she discussed how performance and video became as an effective media outlet for women to express their creativity in regards to the body’s rhythm and pains. In Ono's work she often demands the viewers' participation and forces them to get involved. Her most famous performance was the "cut piece" staged in 1964, where the audience which included both males and females was invited to cut off pieces of her clothing until she was left practically naked, an abstract commentary on discarding materialism. Yoko stated in her ( Y.O biography) “People went on cutting the parts they do not like of me finally there was only the stone remained of me that was in me but they were still not satisfied and wanted to know what it’s like in the stone”. Yoko perhaps felt that the participants wanted to probe into her soul which she called her stone. Ultimately ‘Cut Piece’ expresses an, anguished inferiority while offering a “social commentary on the quiet violence that binds individuals and society, the self and gender, alienation and connectedness.”  (Washington Post)  Critics saw her as waving political red flags, while she evidently believed it was automatically promoting the body of women.

 “Cut Piece Photo1964” 

Ono appeared confident of the fact that she was a female artist and by the way she has expressed it lead to attacks by the media and other entities. Apparently the more she was criticized for her work it created a determination that perpetuated her to explore more feminism art. It depicted that the society was having major difficulties accepting a woman as a real woman.

During the 60’s amongst Ono’s many art work pieces she used holes for materials. She strongly expressed that the purpose of using the hole was a representation of an entrance to un-rocking one’s mind. In some of her more modern hole pieces she used the holes that were made by gun bullets to symbolize battle and violence. The hole holding the trace of cruelty she discovered can also be an air that holds hopes and dreams if one is willing or able to change their viewpoint to convert their mindset.

” The Hole”

 ExhibitionsbyYoko Ono

This is a song that Yoko wrote in the 1970’S to show her solidarity with the issues that women face in regards to gender inequality. (You Tube)

O SISTERS O SISTERS

We lost our green land, we lost our clean air
We lost our true wisdom and we live in despair.

Wisdom, O Wisdom
That’s what we ask for

And yes, my dear sisters
We must learn to ask.Wisdom, O Wisdom
That’s what we ask for                                
That’s what we live for now.

Sisters, O Sisters                                                                    
Let’s wake up, right on
It’s never too late
To shout from our hearts.

Freedom, O Freedom                            
That’s what we fight for
And yes, my dear sisters
We must learn to fight.             

Freedom, O Freedom
That’s what we ask for
That’s what we live for now.

Sisters, O Sisters
Let’s give up no more
It’s never too late
To build a New World.

New World, O New World
That’s what we live for
And yes, my dear sisters
We must learn to live.

New World, O New World
That’s what we live for
That’s what we must now learn to build.

Performed by Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Jerry Rubin, Chris Osborne & Eddie Mottau.
Attica State Prison Riots Benefit Concert
Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York   
17 December 1971.

           Yoko and John Lennon in 1970's

Work Cited:

1.      www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxeyDmR6jbs

2.      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042000410.html

3.      http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/yoko-ono.html.

4.      http://www.ukessays.com/essays/film-studies/yoko-ono-and-avant-garde-film-studies-essay.php#ixzz3VnomNFnJ

5.      Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.