Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors
Photography: Karin Rosie Viilup, @rozarosie
Exhibited Artist: Yayoi Kusama, @kusama_archive
Exhibited Artist: Yayoi Kusama, @kusama_archive
Experimental medium-format shots taken with a Moscow II camera at Yayoi Kusama’s ehxibition Infinity Mirror Rooms in Tate Modern museum.
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist and writer. Across her career, she has made paintings, sculptures, performances and installations. For Kusama, the experience of art is about more than just looking. It can also be about stepping into the artwork and being immersed in it, as in her Infinity Mirror Rooms (Tate, 2022).
From early in her life, Kusama has experienced visual hallucinations. She recalls a childhood memory: ‘One day after gazing at a pattern of red flowers on the tablecloth I looked up to see that the ceiling, the windows, and the columns seemed to be plastered with the same red floral pattern. I saw the entire room, my entire body, and the entire universe covered with red flowers’. She felt as if she was disappearing or dissolving. She describes this as ‘self-obliteration’. Using experiences like this in her art is a way for her to make sense of them and share them with others (Tate, 2022).
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist and writer. Across her career, she has made paintings, sculptures, performances and installations. For Kusama, the experience of art is about more than just looking. It can also be about stepping into the artwork and being immersed in it, as in her Infinity Mirror Rooms (Tate, 2022).
From early in her life, Kusama has experienced visual hallucinations. She recalls a childhood memory: ‘One day after gazing at a pattern of red flowers on the tablecloth I looked up to see that the ceiling, the windows, and the columns seemed to be plastered with the same red floral pattern. I saw the entire room, my entire body, and the entire universe covered with red flowers’. She felt as if she was disappearing or dissolving. She describes this as ‘self-obliteration’. Using experiences like this in her art is a way for her to make sense of them and share them with others (Tate, 2022).
In Kusama’s visual hallucinations, she becomes ‘obliterated’ by repeated dots. Here she invites us to share this ‘selfobliteration’. The dots surround and engulf you, making it hard to tell where you end and where the rest of the room begins. Usually, when we experience art, there’s a clear distinction between us and the artwork. But Kusama confuses this on purpose. To experience her mirror rooms, she asks us to become part of them (Tate, 2022).
Link to more information: Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors
Link to more information: Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors
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