Major exhibition of Yoko Ono's works opening at Vancouver Art Gallery
Show features collaborative projects the artist undertook with late husband John Lennon
Vancouverites can celebrate the late John Lennon's birthday this Saturday at the launch of a new art exhibition featuring collaborative works the Beatles star worked on with Yoko Ono, the world-renowned artist and love of his life.
Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono / The art of John and Yoko opens Oct. 9 at the Vancouver Art Gallery and is a major survey exhibition celebrating the work of Ono, a conceptual and performance artist.
Organized into two parts, the first section invites viewers to participate in the creative process by following text instructions provided by Ono and, in a way, collaborate with her on some of her famed pieces.
This includes mending broken ceramics (Mend Piece,1966/2021), hammering nails into a canvas (Painting to Hammer a Nail, 1966/2021) and writing about their mothers on a sticky note and attaching it to the gallery wall (My Mommy is Beautiful, 2004/2021).
The second part of the show features collaborative work by Ono and Lennon on the subject of peace, including Bed-ins for Peace, which were filmed non-violent protests against war undertaken by the couple in 1969.
As the Vietnam War raged, the duo held two week-long performances where they sat in bed together. Derived from the idea of peaceful sit-in protests, the first was held in Amsterdam and the second in Montreal.
"The one thing that brought them together ... was to work for peace," said co-curator Cheryl Sim.
The exhibition is a dream come true for Sim, who contacted Ono with a written note in 2017 asking if the artist would be interested in having such a show staged in Vancouver. She was game.
"It's just all come together in a beautiful way," said Sim.
Two other installations connected to the exhibition include Arising and Water Event.
The former is an invitation from Ono to women to submit a picture of their eyes and a written testament about harm they have endured because of their gender.
The latter involves a number of local Indigenous artists invited by Ono to create a vessel that can hold water. According to Sim, Ono requested to work with these artists to reflect the significance of water to these communities.
Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono / The art of John and Yoko runs until May 1.
Photos of John Lennon, Yoko Ono's Bed-in
for Peace protest part of Vancouver gallery
exhibit
Nafeesa KarimAnchor / Multi-skilled Journalist, CTV News Vancouver
Anthony Vasquez-PeddieCTVNews.ca writer
Saturday, October 9, 2021
CTV National News: John Lennon's Bed-in for Peace
VANCOUVER -- On the eve of what would have been John Lennon's 81st birthday, the Vancouver Art Gallery will be opening a major exhibition of works by his wife, Yoko Ono.
Among the pieces on display Sunday will be a collection of photographs, owned by a Victoria woman, that document an iconic week in pop culture history.
In 1969, as the Vietnam War was raging, newlyweds Lennon and Ono spent eight days in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel as part of a peaceful protest against the conflict, which they labelled "Bed-in for Peace."
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Only one photographer was in the room during the protest, Brooklyn-born Gerry Deiter, who was on assignment for Life Magazine.
"The love, the intimacy in those photos..." Joan Athey, owner of the photos, told to CTV News. "Even though there were always at least 20 people in the room."
The photos never ended up being published. Deiter packed them away and eventually settled in Victoria where he made a friend in Athey, whom he showed the pictures.
"They were in love," she described of Lennon and Ono in the photos. "They were inspired."
After the 9/11 attacks, Deiter decided the world needed to see the photos and their message of peace.
"He wanted to rekindle the spirit of 'Give Peace a Chance,'" Athey said, referring to one of Lennon and Ono's most prominent music tracks.
Five days after the photos went on display at the Royal BC Museum, however, Deiter died of a heart attack. Athey bought his collection and has taken it upon herself to tell the story of the Bed-in for Peace, which she said carries a message that still resonates.
"You just have to look around," she said. "You can see the world is still in terrible turmoil."
Twenty-four of the photos will be displayed as part of Ono's "Growing Freedom" exhibit, which will run until May 1, 2022.
In this April 18, 1972 file photo, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, leave a U.S. Immigration hearing in New York City. (AP Photo, FIle)
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