Almond Branches In Bloom: A Woman more than An Artist

I came to Guangzhou this afternoon for Ono Yoko's personal exhibiton FLY that I missed last time in Shanghai. There wasn't too much exhibits but occupied the whole second floor of Guangdong Art Museum with three video clips,three installtion art and a conception art. One of Yoko's works is the most popular one recent years named Wish Trees for Pasadena which is filled with the wish cards written by visitors. The Tree has been set into many coutries all over the world and becomes the new symbol of Yoko's appealling for peace. As we know, Ono Yoko is so significant in the art sphere mostly because of her an activist for peace and human rights since 1960s. With her well-known husband John Lennon, she has put her art career to the summit. And then with the short breakdown with Lennon(1973-1974), their son's birth(1975), Lennon's assassinate(1980), Yoko experienced the hardest period in her life. Life teaches her a lot and makes her the stronger will to devote herself into the art role of Pacifist. So in October 2007, the big white tower named IMAGINE PEACE TOWER designed by Yoko was completed in Iceland Reykjavik. The video recording the event was showing on the venue of museum all the time. Yoko said she wish the people all over the world could say I love you at the same time and also she said John was still with us at this moment. The name of tower IMAGINE PEACE is also the name of John Lennon's song in 1971.

That was the main theme of this exhibiton and also the main theme of Yoko's art works. But I was not so concerned with that, which captured my eyes was the end of that video, John Lennon finished his singing and turned his face to Yoko who was sitting beside him with a set of white dress. Yoko seemed so shy when she stared at Lennon. What was read by her expression was so complicated with dpressive happiness and nameless sorrow. Then Lennon kissed her unexpectedly and at that time she smiled eventually.

Her responce to Lennon impacted me a lot. I know it is the feeling of a woman who falls in love. Since she meet with Lennon, her life was mostly occupied by him. Though I once heard a lot of criticism to her before especially for her dominance of Lennon due to Lennon's death. Undoubtedly She always plays the powerful role in the relationship. As an Aquarius woman, she represents the typical characters of that constellation, creative, intelligent, sensible and powerful. And if we review the moment which John Lennon decided to love Yoko, we will find that was the period Lennon lost himself in a comfused status. The strength of Yoko was so powerful and pulled Lennon out of his chaos then found the new start point of his life. In that time, John Lennon needed a mentor or a mother to teach him how to do, Yoko did as he wished though maybe go too far afterward.

But she is not an ordinary woman, as a femal artist she has always been trying to break the conventional value on woman. She said being a woman means you must face more difficults than man, but in another word more taboos more creations. What she did is more than enough, it can be seen in the two rest videos FLY (1970 25mins) and CUT PIECE (performance art both in 1964 and 2003). From my view, the first one FLY shotting on the movement of a fly on a naked woman body gives the spectators especially males the new way to consider their attitude to woman. If the video is meaningful or erotic depends on the posture you throw on female. And the second video which Yoko sitted on the stage and her clothes was being cut by a man piece by piece till the bra. Yoko used this two video though seemly not aggressive to ask for people's attention on the women's humanilty. And it also standed for her not willing to be a conventinal housewilf position.

And then let us back to see what she did for John Lennon, she took care of him, guided him in his hardest period, suffered the pressure from the fans of Lennon, and this pressure forever lasts. She wants to be a better woman to Lennon but more than a woman to art, this is the paradox. The only reason she insists on this paradox even making her painful is love, the love to John Lennon. However powerful she expressed on her art works, the expression on the video she faced to Lennon told all.