Yōko Ono Piece

Silverman, Madison

Item

Yōko Ono Piece

Silverman, Madison

Abstract

Whereas in ages past, the icon was a sacred symbol reserved for political and religious leaders, divine beings and mythical sprits, our modern culture worships the celebrity- or condemns them. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze YōkoOno’s reception from different perspectives over the course of 60 years, and attempt to understand why her perception is so fragmented and divided with the ultimate goal of constructing a homogenous image of this heavily controversial and avant-garde artist and icon. This study is carried out first by considering her personal life and its representation, as well as her art through the point of view of the media and the voice of her peer groups. The methodological approach was to relate very different types of sources (academic, voices from real artists, interpretations from different perspectives from both critical and mass-media), and to mold the idea of the representation of Yōko Ono both internally and externally. This is accomplished via a narrative approach, with media definitions embedded and entangled throughout, as well as the rethinking of definitions in a moment in time in which we are surrounded by different influences. The use of quotes is used as sort of images, almost like subjects themselves, woven and contextualized as a linguistic decision. They are narrative devices which add both structure and counter story. The main – and still open - question this thesis addresses is, did Yōko Ono decide that her life would be a performance, or did her life become a performance. Was she in charge of her representation, or overwhelmed by it?