Look it’s absolutely no secret that Yayoi Kusama is 100% a fave of mine. I love her and her immersive, expansive, existentialism-in-fairy-lights infinity rooms and unabashedly feminist artworks are right up there with some of the best contemporary pieces. I always, always, make time to see Kusama’s work if we’re in the same city.
[jwplayer wiI1jN99]
After premiering at Sundance earlier this year and currently screening at Melbourne International Film Festival, Kusama: Infinity is copping an official release next month – and the trailer has given us a great insight into the tumultuous journey that is Kusama’s 89 years of life.
With a rather conservative upbringing in Japan in the 1920s, Kusama spent a lot of her life against the odds; living in Japan during and post-WWII, where mental illness is something to be ashamed of, in a family that never encouraged her creativity and an art community that harboured a lot of rampant sexism and racism at the time.
Despite all these things stacked against her, Kusama has spent the most part of her almost-nine decades creating beautiful artworks and installations, consistently weaving her iconic obsession with polka dots through it all.
Check out the trailer below, and get along to tonight’s screening at MIFF if you’re around and not sure what you wanna catch.
