Inspirational Women: Yoko Ono

Best known for her work as a Japanese multimedia artist, singer/songwriter and peace activist throughout the 60's and 70's, Yoko Ono captivated audiences with her inspirational messages. She was also the second wife of John Lennon, singer-songwriter of The Beatles. 

Best known for her work as a Japanese multimedia artist, singer/songwriter and peace activist throughout the 60’s and 70’s, Yoko Ono captivated audiences with her inspirational messages. She was also the second wife of John Lennon, singer-songwriter of The Beatles. 

After the war ended in 1945, Ono moved to New York  and in spite of her parents disapproval, she loved meeting artists, poets, visiting galleries and art happenings in the city.

As the only female artist chosen to perform her own events and one of only two invited to speak, Ono travelled to London in 1966 to meet artist and political activist Gustav Metzgers. It was here that she would meet John Lennon and begin artistic collaborations.

The famous couple often combined advocacy with performance art, such as in “bagism”, where they satirised prejudice and stereotyping by wearing a bag over their entire bodies. They also created and attended their own public protests against the Vietnam War. 

John Lennon and Yoko Ono used the publicity from the 1969 marriage to promote world peace. They spent their honeymoon in room 702 at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel for a week in March and invited the world’s press into their room everyday between 9 am – 9pm.

In the 1980’s, Ono began her participatory art installation, Wish Tree. It remains an ongoing project and asks viewers to tie a written wish of hope to its branches. Instructions by the installation state “Ask your friends to do the same. Keep wishing. Until the branches are covered with wishes.’

Yoko Ono’s “Our Beautiful Daughters” celebrates women and peace in new Delhi. The exhibition explores gender as a physical, emotional reality. Her works are emotionally effective through simple gestures, showing the possibility of peace and love worldwide.

The Yoko Bikini

Inspired by Ono’s activism for peace and her artworks which celebrate female empowerment, we created the Yoko Bikini!