Since the early 1960s, Yoko Ono has been inspiring the world. The hope for peace and freedom has always been an essential element and driving power behind her creative philosophy. Her artistic messages have challenged the world’s existing values and inspired people to exercise their own imagination for the future, especially in such times when the society is forced to change.
This summer, Ono was honored with The 8th Hiroshima Art Prize, a triennial award given to artists for their contributions to world peace. In conjunction, at the Hiroshima City Art Museum, she presented a solo exhibition, “THE ROAD OF HOPE”, which reminds us of the recovering experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the tragedy of the atomic bomb and the hope for the recovery of Japan from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Yoko Ono says:
The strength of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which has enabled them to overcome profound sorrow and suffering thanks to an indomitable sprit and the power of the human mind, offers a ray of hope for the world today.
Humanity’s greatest wisdom lies in its psychic energy, our superpowers, if you like, a brilliant intellectual force that emerges from the depths of our consciousness at times of our crisis, and has the power to move mountains purely by hope.
– Yoko Ono, 2011, Trust in The Power of Human Intellect＊
Now that the Japanese society is confronted with the invisible atomic threats brought by the natural forces of March 11, Ono’s work sends a powerful message to our hearts, as if lighting up the individuals’ own imagination and superpower we possess.
Hoping that my love will help you draw on your own personal superpowers.
– Yoko Ono, 2011, Trust in The Power of Human Intellect＊
In the exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery, LIGHT（original title in Japanese 灯 あかり）, Ono will present a variety of works to bring light to the Japanese people in the wake of the tragic earthquake. Among the works in the exhibitions are: TO THE LIGHT, a large maze which people can walk through to find a light in the center ; INVISIBLE PEOPLE, transparent human-shaped figures standing in dim lights in the darkness ; works from REMNANTS, arranged and displayed broken furniture from a house that was destroyed in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Based on one of the works from REMNANTS, Ono created an edition work titled AIR CLOCK and will release it to the public for the first time in this exhibition. Ono will also inscribe messages of her hopes and thoughts in the gallery space with Japanese calligraphy.
＊The 8th Hiroshima Art Prize The Road of Hope Yoko Ono 2011 exhibition catalogue
