Yoko Ono
Photo: Matthew Placek
Yoko Ono
Japan born 1933, lives in the United States 1952–
Level 2
NGV International
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PROJECT
Drawing on her Instruction Pieces and major public art commissions around the world, Yoko Ono contributes a short text, presented as a simple statement to the world, on the facade of the NGV International building. Ono’s text works speak to her conceptual practice of over sixty years, and offer declarative, poetic, confessional and political commentary. For the NGV Triennial, Ono offers her message to Melbourne.
My Mommy is Beautiful is a participatory project where visitors are invited to write their own reflections about their mothers. They are also welcome to attach photographs to the canvases that will eventually spill over onto the walls. Though deeply personal, My Mommy is Beautiful operates as a conceptual artwork that is active and grows through the exhibition. My Mommy is Beautiful is emblematic of Yoko Ono’s conceptual and performance artworks that invite audience participation and collective action. Ono is urging us to celebrate the maternal love we experienced or perhaps imagined and wished for. Through handwritten and drawn offerings she seeks to celebrate a community of voices, perspectives and approaches. The artwork also offers a moment of reflection, contemplation and remembering.
ABOUT
Counterculture icon Yoko Ono is a multimedia artist working in performance, instruction, film, installation, music and writing. A forerunner in conceptual art involving collaboration, audience participation and social activism since the early 1960s, Ono challenges viewers’ understanding of art and the world around them. Her body of work speaks to the history of an ever-shifting arts landscape that has defined the last sixty years.
Courtesy of the artist