YokoPeace (the space between us)

In YokoPeace (the space between us), a photographic installation, PhD candidate Kim Connerton performs as Yoko Ono and herself. In two large-scale photographs, 90X95cm each, shown in adjacent corners larger than life faces of her and Ono are represented along with a blank studio wall to provide a physical space for audiences to reflect on the people who inspire them. For Connerton, Ono, invokes peace and a revolutionary spirit, which is represented by performing Ono as she looked when she emerged in the New York art scene in the 1960s. In Yoko Peace… Connerton encouraged audiences to reflect on the people who inspire them by, vacillating between herself and her inspiration, Ono.

The relational element in how YokoPeace (the space between us) was installed is at the core concept of its premise. Diagonally across from the photos shown in the corner, Connerton continues the conversation about inspiration in two large-scale mirror photographs, 83X45cm each. The two photos shown back-to-back are suspended from the ceiling. The mirror backed photograph can absorb and integrate the viewers’ reflections, as part of the exchange between the self and the other - in this case Ono. The use of corners allows architecture to be a threshold for the self to pass into others. The mirror photo facing the windows allowed the outside to be mirrored and the inside to move outside, which can also act as a metaphor for the exchange between Ono, the artist & the viewer, and the audience and the art.

YokoPeace (the space between us) will be on display at Firstdraft from 20 August to 6 September 2008. An artists talk will be held on Saturday 6 September 4.30pm.