Yoko Ono

The exhibition 'Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind' is on at Tate Modern until 1st September 2024.

One is introduced to Yoko Ono’s whole-hearted celebration of humanity by a pair of Wish Trees in which visitors are invited to attach wishes of their own. This is simply one iteration of an installation series Ono has been practising since the mid 90s, and perfectly sets the tone for the exhibition, that proposes the value of her prolific practice revolving around a time-withstanding branch of secular spiritualism that I refer to as Onoism.

Onoism is deliciously silly, embodied by videos of bare bottoms and flies on nipples, all white chess sets, instruction pieces encouraging unresolvable actions, and black sacks hung on walls for visitors to perform in.

Within all of the silliness is a great lucidity fostered by the disarming powers of Ono’s work, encouraging large scale play and through that unity. The atmosphere of the show materialises words Ono had boldly printed on Tate walls – Peace is Power.

Writer: Rosy Akalawu-Ellman
May 14