Yoko Ono to Go Naked for Peace in Paris
Reuters
Sunday, September 14, 2003; 8:08 AM
PARIS (Reuters) - John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono could end up stark naked on a Paris stage Monday as she performs her one-woman art show "Cut Piece," in which members of the audience are to cut off pieces of her clothing.
Ono, 70, who accompanied her Beatle husband in numerous controversial anti-war campaigns including the "Bed-In for Peace" against the Vietnam War, first performed her "Cut Piece" show in 1964 in Japan as a protest for peace.
At the end of the show, she stood naked before her audience.
"Come and cut a piece of my clothing wherever you like --- the size of less than a postcard --- and send it to the one you love," the avant-garde artist said in a statement ahead of the performance at Paris' Ranelagh theater.
"When I first performed this work, in 1964, I did it with some anger and turbulence in my heart. This time, I do it with love for you, for me and for the world," she added.
Ono has continued to stage unusual peace campaigns after her husband was shot dead by a deranged fan in December 1980.
Last year, she rented a giant billboard space amid the flashing neon signs of Piccadilly Circus in central London. "Imagine all the people living life in peace," the black-and- white poster read, alluding to Lennon's hit song, "Imagine."
Ahead of the war in Iraq, Ono took out full-page advertisements in major newspapers, conveying the message: "Imagine Peace...Spring 2003."
Peace activists around the world have come to adopt the title track from Lennon's 1971 best-selling solo album as their unofficial anthem.
