Yoko Ono invites input from women and Indigenous artists for instructional works Arising and Water Event at the VAG

by Steve Newton on October 6th, 2021 at 2:03 PM

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A major exhibition, GROWING FREEDOM: The instructions of Yoko Ono/The art of John and Yoko, will open at the Vancouver Art Gallery on October 9.

As part of the exhibition, two other Yoko Ono "instructional" works—ARISING (2013) and WATER EVENT (1971)—will feature the participation of local women and Indigenous artists.

"Visionary artist Yoko Ono invites women of all ages from all over the world to send a testament of harm inflicted on them, for simply being what they are, a woman," reads the ARISING event info on the VAG website. "The artist asks that you write your testament in your own language, in your own words and however openly you wish. You may sign your first name if you wish, but do not give your full name. Send a photograph only of your eyes.

"All statements of harm and photographs will be exhibited in Ono’s ARISING, an ongoing installation that has been shown internationally."

Testaments and photographs can be sent by email to yoko@vanartgallery.bc.ca, or by regular mail to ARISING, c/o Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby, Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 2H7.

During the entire run of GROWING FREEDOM, which continues until May 22, 2022, the VAG will be showing an iteration of Ono’s WATER EVENT (1971/2021).

"For this project," reads the event info, "Ono invites a number of artists to create, or select, a container that can hold water. She then adds water to the sculpture for its presentation in the exhibition, which completes the sculpture and the collaboration. The work was initially presented in Ono’s first museum exhibition at the Emerson Museum in Syracuse, New York, in 1971, when she invited 120 artists and musicians to participate.

"For the iteration at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Ono has requested to work with local Indigenous artists to reflect the significance of water to these local communities, past and present, and to create specificity in the work that acknowledges and amplifies the Indigenous communities on whose land the Gallery resides."

Invited artists for WATER EVENT include Orene Askew, Zac George, Leigh Joseph and Floyd Joseph, Diamond Point, Chrystal Sparrow and Chris Sparrow, Debra Sparrow, Manuel Axel Strain, and Sesemiya/Tracy Williams.